A Republican proposal to ­revise the Affordable Care Act claimed its first major victories Thursday amid a backlash that both Republican leaders and President Trump spent the day trying to tamp down.

Dr. Wanda Heffernon, a former UCSF anesthesiologist, made headlines in 2001 when she pleaded guilty to stealing credit cards from her fellow physicians and forging prescriptions to feed her drug addiction.

President Donald Trump's pick to run Medicare and Medicaid won confirmation Monday from a divided Senate as lawmakers braced for another epic battle over the government's role in health care and society's responsibility toward the vulnerable.

As reported earlier here, the House Education and Workforce Committee advanced three health care bills on March 8, 2017. These bills are not part of the American Health Care Act, which is moving through the House of Representatives under budget reconciliation procedures. They are therefore very unlikely to be enacted into law because they cannot be passed by the Senate without the support of at least 60 senators. There are intimations, however, that the bills may be passed by the House in conjunction with the AHCA, and thus they are worthy of a closer look.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom talks to the Sacramento Bee editorial board about California Proposition 64, the California Marijuana Legalization Initiative, in August 2016 in Sacramento. Newsom has enlisted health experts to begin working on a blueprint for a universal health care system for California that seeks to improve on the Affordable Care Act.

House Republicans on Monday released long-anticipated legislation to supplant the Affordable Care Act with a more conservative vision for the nation’s health-care system, replacing federal insurance subsidies with a new form of individual tax credits and grants to help states shape their own policies.