OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Democrats at odds over Medicare cuts

Subsidy assault: Republicans are getting ready to slam one of the few popular provisions of the healthcare reform law: its insurance subsidies. The House Oversight Health subcommittee is holding a hearing Thursday on “newly identified unintended consequences” of the tax credits. Healthwatch will have more on that in the morning, so please check back.

CLASS Attack: Utah Rep. Jim Matheson became the second Democrat to publicly call for repeal of the healthcare law’s CLASS Act on Wednesday. He issued his statement shortly after Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee pushed back against Republicans’ call to repeal the program.

{mosads}Healthwatch’s Sam Baker has more on Matheson and on Wednesday’s CLASS hearing.

SCOTUS timing: The Supreme Court will consider whether to hear a challenge to the healthcare reform law at its private conference on Nov. 10 — the court’s first formal discussion on the issue. The justices must decide whether to take up any of the healthcare lawsuits, which one to take and how to consolidate the various issues raised in competing briefs. Healthwatch has more.

Also on Wednesday, the health insurance industry filed a brief with the Supreme Court, urging it to take up the issue promptly and to pay careful attention to the issue of severability. Read the Healthwatch story.

Thursday’s agenda

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick team up for “an important announcement about Medicare.” 

The House is expected to pass Rep. Diane Black’s (R-Tenn.) bill tightening the eligibility standards for Medicaid and insurance subsidies under the healthcare reform law. The White House supports the bill.

Reps. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) hold a bipartisan briefing and panel discussion on the future of the Medicare physician payment system. The two spearheaded a letter signed by 115 members urging the deficit-cutting supercommittee to include a comprehensive sustainable growth rate fix in their proposal.

The Kaiser Family Foundation unveils its 2011 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey.

Avalere and CMS hold an audio conference about the Star Ratings program’s payment implications and issues for Medicare Advantage plans.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) keynotes the First National Congress on Healthcare Clinical Innovations, Quality Improvement and Cost Containment, co-sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center. He’ll release an interim report by the BPC’s Task Force on Delivery System Reform and Health Information Technology on the effective use of health IT to support new models of care.

That’s at 9:15 a.m. at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Former Govs. Phil Bredesen (D-Tenn.) and Jim Douglas (R-Vt.), both members of the BPC Governors’ Council, will participate in a panel discussion after Daschle’s remarks.

State by state

Utah — home to an insurance exchange that conservatives embrace — has a more competitive insurance market than most areas of the country.

Kansas and Missouri are moving forward with medical homes.

And Aetna is taking part in a medical-home pilot in Atlanta.

Lobbying registrations

TKB Global Strategies / The Population Council

David Balto / Apira Healthcare

Fraud fight

Seven people in Wisconsin were charged with Medicare fraud and identity theft related to payments for durable medical equipment.

A Louisiana woman was arrested on 13 counts of Medicare fraud.

Reading list

Democrats are blocking the use of the word “ObamaCare” in taxpayer-funded congressional mailings, Roll Call reports.

Mitt Romney’s Medicaid cuts are more draconian than Paul Ryan’s, says Think Progress.

The Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff looks at two new studies of how changes to the healthcare law would affect the number of people covered.

Employers are offering incentives for healthy behavior as they try to rein in their healthcare costs, the AP reports.

What you might have missed on Healthwatch

FDA launches two centers to improve approval of drugs, devices 

News bites: NIH death probe requested 

Comments / complaints / suggestions? Please let us know:

Julian Pecquet: jpecquet@digital-release.thehill.com / 202-628-8527

Sam Baker: sbaker@digital-release.thehill.com / 202-628-8351

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