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Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday called for a broad bipartisan deal to protect the solvency of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, popular programs that face serious funding issues over the next few decades. ... Manchin, who sank Biden’s ambitious $3 trillion Build Back Better agenda in December, has often talked about the financial challenges facing Social Security and Medicaid. (Bolton, 11/3)

Manchin said at a Fortune CEO conference he’d like to see bipartisan legislation over the next two years to deal with entitlement programs, which he said are facing “tremendous problems.”  Some of the trust funds that help support the programs could run out of money in the next 12 years, which would trigger cuts to benefits.  (Dennis, 11/3)

In a bipartisan letter sent Wednesday, 46 senators — from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — asked leadership to address looming Medicare payment cuts to providers before the new year, when they would take effect. “It is essential in the coming weeks that we make sure providers have the resources they need to keep their doors open for seniors and families,” the senators wrote. The letter comes a day after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its final rule confirming the cuts, which are required by law. (Payne and Mahr, 11/3)

In 2020, the North Carolina Hospital Association published an infographic that claimed its hospitals lost $3.1 billion by providing care to Medicare patients. But a report commissioned by State Treasurer Dale Folwell argues that most North Carolina hospitals did not lose money on Medicare. In fact, many of them profited, the report says. (Rosenbluth, 11/4)

On Tuesday, as millions of Americans cast their ballots in the 2022 midterms, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in what could be one of the most consequential health care cases in its history. The defendants in Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County v. Talevski are asking the justices to fundamentally rework the Medicaid program, which provides health care to over 76 million low-income Americans. (Millhiser, 11/3)

Progressives have helped bring health coverage to tens of thousands of uninsured Americans with an exercise in direct democracy: They have persuaded voters to pass ballot measures expanding Medicaid in six states where Republican elected officials had long been standing in the way. Now comes the latest test of this ballot box strategy: South Dakota. (Stolberg, 11/3)

KHN: Centene Showers Politicians With Millions As It Courts Contracts And Settles Overbilling Allegations 

On Nov. 2, 2021, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak’s reelection campaign received 10 separate $10,000 contributions from what appeared to be unrelated health insurance plans from across the country. The Buckeye Community Health Plan of Ohio, Louisiana Healthcare Connections, and Peach State Health Plan of Georgia were among the companies that sent money to the Democrat, according to state campaign finance records, even though only one, SilverSummit Healthplan, provided insurance in the Silver State. But a thread connects the companies: Each is a subsidiary of Centene Corp., ranked 26th on the Fortune 500 list, and the nation’s largest private managed-care provider for Medicaid, the government insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities. (Young, Miller and Grapevine, 11/4)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: ACA Open Enrollment Without The Drama

It’s open enrollment time for Affordable Care Act health coverage. And for the first time, people are enrolling with comparatively little controversy, as most Republicans have moved on from trying to repeal the law. On the campaign trail, meanwhile, Democrats are charging that if Republicans win majorities in the U.S. House or Senate, they will try to cut Social Security and Medicare. (11/3)

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar is accusing his Republican challenger, Cassy Garcia, of lying about her support for the Affordable Care Act — a law she once called a "train wreck" — as one of the most closely watched congressional races in the state has grown increasingly bitter in the final days before the midterms. (Wermund, 11/3)