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The majority of voters in Tuesday’s special election in Pennsylvania considered health care to be one of the most important issues in deciding who to vote for, according to an exit poll released Wednesday. For 52 percent of voters, health care was ranked as a top issue when deciding who to vote for, while 19 percent said it wasn’t at all important to them, according to Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm. (Hellmann, 3/14)

An updated bill to shore up ObamaCare's markets would reduce premiums by 10 percent next year and by 20 percent in 2020 and 2021, according to preliminary estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill could be added to a long-term spending package Congress hopes to pass next week. (Hellmann, 3/14)

Congressional Republicans are growing more receptive to funding an Obamacare stabilization effort in the omnibus spending bill but remain divided over abortion restrictions. Some House Republicans who once opposed the idea of propping up Obamacare markets are coming around to the idea that they should act ahead of 2019, to avoid the risk of millions of Americans getting shocking premium increases in the fall, just before the midterm elections. (Haberkorn and Cancryn, 3/14)

What’s the best advice that one HHS secretary can give to another? Tommy Thompson — who ran the department for four years under President George W. Bush — says his guidance to new leader Alex Azar has been clear: Never hesitate. “I told him to be bold,” Thompson said on POLITICO’s “Pulse Check” podcast. “Follow your gut, your heart, your mind.” (Diamond, 3/14)