What We're Reading: Judge Sides With GOP in Obamacare Lawsuit

A federal judge has rules that the Obama administration did not have the authority to spend funds for subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. According to The Washington Post, the judge sided with the House of Representatives, which challenged more than $175 billion spent after Congress rejected a request for funding in 2014. The White House press secretary predicted the ruling would be overturned.

After denying President Obama’s requested $1.9 billion to fight the Zika virus, the Senate has reached a deal for lesser funding. Lawmakers have agreed to emergency funding of $1.1 billion and they are expected to vote on the measure next week, reported AP. Obama initially requested funding in February, but Congress has been slow to act and some senior Democrats are not happy that the negotiated funding falls so short of what was requested. The funding would go to the CDC for Zika response, to the National Institutes of Health for research, and to battling the virus overseas.

Los Angeles is using healthcare funds to find housing for the homeless, starting with people living with no shelter on Skid Row. The approach follows a successful program to address the homeless crisis in San Francisco that moved people into permanent housing and connected them with support services, according to STAT. Already, $60 million in health funding has been allocated for new housing and 184 people have been assigned to permanent housing. The goal is to move 250 people into housing during the first year of the program and nearly 2000 people into housing within 4 years.