Health Care News Jan. 3 - 7

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News
FRIDAY
White House: Health Care Repeal Won’t Happen
In case it wasn’t already clear, the White House announced Thursday that President Barack Obama would veto legislation aimed at repealing his signature health care overhaul.

THURSDAY
Recession slowed health care spending
Americans spent $2.5 trillion on health care in 2009, or $8,086 per person.
Health-care reform in cross hairs: Could it survive without individual mandate?
Both Republicans and some judges say the health-care reform individual mandate – that all Americans must buy health insurance – is unconstitutional. If they are right, is President Obama's signature achievement doomed?
CBO: Health repeal will increase deficit
Congress's official scorekeeper said Thursday that the House Republicans' first major bill — repealing last year's health care law — would actually increase deficits by about $145 billion over the next eight years.
Obamacare Goes Under the Knife
In the nearly 10 months since the Democrats' health care bill became law, bureaucrats have been feverishly writing new regulations, and the first wave of reform has arrived.
Cantor Holds Onto Hope Senate Will Act on Repeal
Any attempt to repeal health care reform -- the Democrats’ signature policy achievement -- is expected to sputter fast in the Senate where they’re still in charge. But House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is holding out hope.
Reform law costs insurance brokers
Pay for health insurance brokers will be slashed by more than 50 percent in some cases because of new health reform rules, according to documents obtained exclusively by POLITICO.
Health Spending Rose in ’09, but at Low Rate
Total national health spending grew by 4 percent in 2009, the slowest rate of increase in 50 years, as people lost their jobs, lost health insurance and deferred medical care, the federal government reported on Wednesday.

WEDNESDAY
Hospitals Settle With DOJ in False Medicare Claims Case
Seven hospitals in six states have agreed to repay more than $6.3 million to settle allegations the facilities filed false claims to Medicare.
States grapple with health care
All states — including those led by Republican governors who campaigned against reform — have implemented at least some of the new law’s provisions. And every state has now received federal funding from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The action in the states is a sharp contrast to the scene on the Hill Tuesday, where familiar foes rehashed old rhetoric.
Health care reform pays big dividends
Health care reform was a big job in 2009, and it paid very well for some executives: Nine of 12 CEOs of health care trade associations made $1 million or more.

TUESDAY
US House Republicans move to repeal Obama healthcare
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives plan to pass a bill next week to repeal President Barack Obama's overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system, a senior party aide said on Monday, but the effort is widely expected to fail in the Senate.
House GOP Health Care Repeal Could Pick Up a Few Dem Votes
Only a few moderate or conservative Democrats remain left in the House of Representatives come opening day on Wednesday, but expect at least a chunk of them to vote in favor of the Republican plan to repeal the health care law.
Wisconsin to Challenge Health Care Overhaul
One more state is expected to file suit challenging the constitutionality of the health care overhaul law.

MONDAY
6 states to watch on health reform
Health reform repeal efforts will generate a lot of noise in the opening weeks of the 112th Congress – but the real action on health reform is going to ramp up outside the Beltway in state capitals
Health care reform 101: What will kick in Jan. 1?
Some parts of health care reform are already phasing in. Here nine key provisions that take effect Jan. 1.
Health care in the hot seat again
Republicans on Sunday demonstrated a united front against health care reform passed by the Obama administration, an issue that is sure to fan the flames on the left and right when a divided Congress returns Wednesday.

Economist Comments
THURSDAY
Obamacare: An Unacquired Taste
Throughout the debate over health-care reform, Democrats constantly told us (and themselves) that if only they could explain the bill better, Americans would come to understand how good it was for them.
ObamaCare Rewards Friends, Punishes Enemies
The administration waives allies through the health law's onerous restrictions.

WEDNESDAY
The aspirin tax
Forty million Americans started paying higher taxes last weekend because of Obamacare. That's enough to make anyone feel ill, but it's only a start.

TUESDAY
Time to Play Dr. No
Medicaid is bleeding taxpayers and wrecking New York's health-care sector.
Schumer: Health care foes should forego coverage
New York Senator Chuck Schumer is pushing Republican members of Congress who oppose last year's health care legislation to decline health coverage for themselves and their families.
Medicare isn't mandatory
Federal power to order coverage is challenged.

MONDAY
Upton Predicts House Health Care Repeal Bill in January
The incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Sunday that House Republicans will probably move to repeal President Obama's health care reform law in January.
A New Year and a New Direction for Health Care Reform
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became the law of the land in 2010, but debate over its existence and implementation will rage on in the New Year. The law’s serious policy flaws are already impacting health insurance and costs, but these are part of a deeper and broader issue: the proper role for the federal government in Americans’ health care.

Blogs
FRIDAY
CBO’s Preliminary Analysis of H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act
Because CBO and JCT estimated that the March 2010 health care legislation would reduce budget deficits over the 2010–2019 period and in subsequent years, we expect that repealing that legislation would increase budget deficits. The resulting increase in deficits projected for fiscal years 2012 through 2019 is likely to be similar in size to—but not exactly the same as—the reduction in deficits that was originally estimated to result from the enacted legislation.
Take CBO Report With a Grain of Salt: Obamacare Repeal Would Not Increase Deficits
Next week, the House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 2, a measure to repeal Obamacare in its entirety. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today released a report stating that repealing the health care law would increase the deficit by $145 billion between 2012 and 2019.
Recession Accelerates Shift Towards Greater Control of Washington in Health Care
While overall health care spending slowed in 2009, it is the underlying trend that is more troubling: the continuing decline in private coverage and the steady increase in government health care. These trends will only accelerate under Obamacare.

THURSDAY
Reality Check: Repeal of Obamacare Would Not Increase the Deficit
Though the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the health law would create $124 billion in savings, the CBO is required to make unlikely assumptions and disregard budget gimmicks included in the legislation. Taking this into account causes the cost of Obamacare to skyrocket.
Is the Administration Cooking the Books on Govt’s Share of Health Spending?
Today, the federal agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid released its estimates of national health expenditures in 2009.
Paul Ryan: Obamacare Is a ‘Fiscal Train Wreck’
House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) issued the following statement with respect to House Republicans’ continued efforts to repeal and replace the Democrats’ costly government takeover of health care:
John Goodman on Magnitude of Health Problem
"We now know how many people have the problem most often cited as the reason for last years' health overhaul legislation. Out of 310 million Americans, only 8,000 people have the problem given as the principal reason for spending almost $1 trillion, creating more than 150 regulatory agencies and causing perhaps 150 million or more people to change the coverage they now have.
One way to cut health care spending
Total national health spending grew by 4 percent in 2009, the slowest rate of increase in 50 years, however “Federal Medicaid spending increased 22 percent in 2009, the highest rate of growth since 1991.”

WEDNESDAY
Word Games as a Mask for Compulsory Healthcare Equality
The recent decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revoke approval of the drug Avastin for late stage breast cancer is an action with considerable significance for the future of government financed or subsidized healthcare.
New Congress Begins Fight to Repeal Obamacare and Get Health Care Reform Right
As the 112th Congress begins, the new majority in the House of Representatives has already unveiled plans to repeal Obamacare and start over with health care reform. Obamacare moves the United States health care system in the wrong direction, and to get reform right, Congress should start by repealing this onerous piece of legislation.

TUESDAY
Health Care: Costs, Spending, and Choices
Even if medical costs did not rise faster than the prices of other goods, as retirees aged, their medical spending would still tend to increase as a share of income; that is, each cohort of retirees would still see a decline in the real income left over for non-medical spending.

MONDAY
Ball Drop Brings Bad News for Consumer-Driven Health Plan Users
This year, as the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve, Americans who depend on health savings accounts (HSAs) to make medical expenditures more affordable will experience first-hand yet another adverse side effect of Obamacare.
Top Ten Side Effects of 2010
Within days of Obamacare’s passage, The Heritage Foundation began documenting all of the ill Side Effects the new law was inflicting on our country.

Reports
TUESDAY
Medicare Variation Revisited: Is Something Wrong with McAllen, Texas, or Is Something Wrong with Medicare?
Health policy analysts have long known that Medicare spends much more per patient in some parts of the country than in others, even after accounting for regional differences in prices and other health measures.