President Obama on Friday signed a spending package with several health care-related provisions, including some that affect the Affordable Care Act, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Martin Shkreli, a boastful pharmaceutical executive who came under withering criticism for price gouging vital drugs, denied securities fraud charges on Thursday following an early morning arrest, and was freed on a $5 million bond.

More than 197,000 people have signed up for health insurance next year through Covered California, the state insurance exchange announced.

As part of his push for the Affordable Care Act in 2009, President Obama came to Central High School to laud this community as a model of better, cheaper health care.

One of the nation's biggest healthcare buyers, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, said its specialty drug costs soared 32% last year to $438 million.

Every state, including California, this year made more improvements among various health care measures than declines, compared with 2014, according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund, Forum News Service/St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.