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Leaders of a dozen state-run health insurance exchanges threw their support Wednesday behind congressional efforts to bolster the individual insurance markets while giving states more leeway over implementing the Affordable Care Act. The state health leaders warned that premiums would continue to climb, and state budgets would suffer, if the federal government didn’t commit to preserving payments to insurers that offset out-of-pocket costs for some consumers, and if states didn’t get more flexibility. (Armour, 8/30)

A bipartisan Obamacare stabilization plan spearheaded by Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is poised to call on Congress to fund the law's cost-sharing subsidies and promote other strategies to boost competition and affordability. (Pradhan, 8/30)

On a swing through western Iowa this week, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley told constituents he is committed to working in a bipartisan way when Congress returns next month to provide storm relief, stabilize the health-care system and fund the government without drama. It is a message that has resonated with many voters as Mr. Grassley tours the state during Congress’s August recess. It comes as President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, has criticized lawmakers in his own party and said this month that he is willing to risk a government shutdown if the GOP-controlled Congress declines to appropriate money for additional border fencing between the U.S. and Mexico. (Tau, 8/30)

The Interior Department’s watchdog has dropped a probe into whether agency Secretary Ryan Zinke violated federal ethics rules by calling Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan to express the Trump administration's displeasure after Murkowski voted to halt progress on the GOP health care repeal bill. In letter to two Democrats who requested the probe on Wednesday, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that the it would be dropped because Murkowski and Sullivan declined to be interviewed by the office. (Nawaguna, 8/30)