"As state legislators, we are responsible for the wise stewardship of taxpayers’ money. The state spends a lot of taxpayers’ money on prescription drugs, through Medicaid, corrections and jails, state employees, higher education employees and their dependents. We should be sure we’re getting the best deal." — Norm Thurston, State Representative of Utah

Despite Republican efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act, insurance premiums will go up only slightly in most states where carriers have submitted proposed prices for next year. And insurance carriers are entering markets rather than fleeing them. The improvements stem from less political uncertainty over health policy, steeper than necessary increases this year, better understanding of the markets, improvements in care and a host of actions taken by individual states.  (Michael Ollove, Stateline)

Opponents of the Trump administration's changes to Medicaid, who recently persuaded a federal judge to block those changes in Kentucky, have filed a similar lawsuit aimed at Arkansas.  In June, Arkansas became the first state to begin phasing in requirements that thousands of poor residents must work at least 80 hours a month, look for a job, or otherwise engage in their community to start receiving Medicaid or keep it. The suit, filed Tuesday on behalf of three poor Arkansans with significant medical problems, seeks to stop those rules. (Amy Goldstein, Washington Post)

New York University said Thursday that it will cover tuition for all its medical students regardless of their financial situation, a first among the nation's major medical schools and an attempt to expand career options for graduates who won't be saddled with six-figure debt. (Melissa Korn, Wall Street Journal)

Drug overdoses killed about 72,000 Americans last year, a record number that reflects a rise of around 10 percent, according to new preliminary estimates from the Centers for Disease Control. The death toll is higher than the peak yearly death totals from H.I.V., car crashes or gun deaths.  (Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times)

States around the country are clamping down on pharmaceutical companies, forcing them to disclose and justify price increases, but the drug manufacturers are fighting back, challenging the state laws as a violation of their constitutional rights. Even more states are, for the first time, trying to regulate middlemen who play a crucial role by managing drug benefits for employers and insurers, while taking payments from drug companies in return for giving preferential treatment to their drugs. (Robert Pear, New York Times)