Axios

The tax bill that just passed the Senate eliminates the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, and the House is likely to go along when Congress writes the final version. With the tax legislation moving so quickly and the mandate lost in the maze of so many other consequential provisions, we are not likely to have much public debate about this big change in health policy.

Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care — large not-for-profit hospital systems based in Illinois and Wisconsin, respectively — have agreed to merge into one system that would have 27 hospitals, $11 billion in revenue and strong negotiating leverage in the two states.

Why it matters: The CVS-Aetna merger is capturing most of the health care consolidation attention. But hospitals have been merging at a rapid pace as a way to offset declining or stagnant revenues. Advocate most recently tried to merge with NorthShore University HealthSystem in Chicago, but the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust concerns forced the two sides to call off the deal.