OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Cain talks healthcare

He said that’s the lesson he learned as a surrogate for Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2008, when Obama strongly criticized his presidential opponent’s proposal to tax employer-based healthcare.

Repeal rebuffed: Senate Republicans made their first attempt to repeal the CLASS Act on Wednesday, asking for unanimous consent to strike the provision from the healthcare law. Of course, that approach didn’t work, but it’s clear the GOP believes it has Democrats in a tough spot over the program. Read the Healthwatch post on the Senate’s proceedings.

{mosads}Shortly before the floor debate got under way, AARP and 50 other advocacy groups registered their opposition to repealing CLASS. Healthwatch has more.

Not so fast: For all the talk about President Obama trying to avoid a healthcare debate in 2012, at least one Democratic group is showing no signs of running away from the healthcare reform law. Priorities USA Action launched a Web ad Wednesday that paints a grim picture of “Mitt Romney’s America” and specifically criticizes GOP candidate Mitt Romney for saying he would repeal the healthcare law. The group told Healthwatch that healthcare provides a great contrast between Obama and Romney. The story is here.

Merger mayhem: The pharmacy benefit giant Express Scripts toured Capitol Hill Wednesday with 50 pharmacists in tow to tout the deficit-busting potential of its pending merger with MedCo Health Solutions. The company’s chief medical officer, Steve Miller, chatted with Healthwatch about the company’s message to lawmakers who have antitrust concerns. 

The visit failed to impress at least two lawmakers — Reps. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) and Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) will hold a press conference Thursday morning with community pharmacists calling on Congress and the Federal Trade Commission to oppose the merger.

Appropriate appropriations: White House budget director Jack Lew warned House Republicans on Wednesday that attempts to put riders in the 2012 spending bills — including language defunding healthcare reform — would only lead to “gridlock.” 

“Ending health care and Wall Street reform are major policy choices that should be made in the bright light of day, and not attached to appropriations bills needed to keep the government operating,” Lew wrote on the Office of Management and Budget blog. The Hill has more here.

Free speech and abortion: A federal appeals court in Cincinnati, Ohio, will hear the Susan B. Anthony List’s request for summary judgment against defamation claims brought by defeated Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio). 

A district court judge had ruled in August that a trial was needed to determine whether SBA violated an Ohio law on false statements with billboard ads that accused Driehaus of supporting taxpayer-funded abortion. But the district court on Wednesday allowed the SBA to appeal the decision rejecting summary judgment. 

Thursday’s agenda

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’s fall meeting continues. Tomorrow’s agenda includes a session on insurance exchanges and “loopholes in the Affordable Care Act.” An NAIC committee will also revisit the definition of “quality improvement” in insurers’ medical loss ratios — an issue it spent months hammering out while writing draft MLR rules last year.

The Heritage Foundation hosts the two lawyers in the leading challenge to the healthcare reform law. David Rivkin and Michael Carvin, who respectively represent the 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business in the Florida lawsuit that’s likely headed to the Supreme Court this spring, explain why they believe the law is unconstitutional.

The Centers for Medicare Advocacy will file a new class-action lawsuit regarding Medicare benefits. The new legal challenge comes as a federal judge in Vermont last week rejected the government’s request to toss a separate class action challenging the use of the “Improvement Standard,” which Medicare uses to deny or terminate coverage to beneficiaries whose conditions are judged not to be improving.

The Animal Health Institute hosts a panel discussion on food safety and the role of animal medicines as some public health advocates urge Congress to restrict the use of antibiotics in healthy animals. Rep. Dennis Cardoza (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee’s livestock, dairy and poultry panel, delivers the keynote address.

Regulatory watch

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General issued interim regulations establishing waivers for several federal laws — including the physician self-referral law, the anti-kickback statute, and certain provisions of the civil monetary penalty law — in connection with the health law’s Shared Savings Program.

{mossecondads}The Medicare agency also published new step-by-step guides for physicians and other providers to switch to ICD-10 diagnostic codes.

State by state

Consumer advocates object to Maine’s plan to put a state agency in charge of overseeing the state’s health insurance exchange.

New York requires health insurers to expand coverage for autism. 

Shifting to a single-payer system could shave $1.8 billion off Vermont’s $10 billion annual health bill, says a new report.

Lobbying registrations

Mr. Richard Miller / National University of Health Sciences 

Mr. Richard Miller / American Optometric Association

Reading list

A new study found that the legalization of medical marijuana in Rhode Island in 2006 didn’t increase marijuana use among youth, the Providence Journal reports.

What you might have missed on Healthwatch

GOP, Dems battle over healthcare law’s contraceptive coverage

Young adults hit hard by loss of employer-sponsored healthcare coverage

Comments / complaints / suggestions? Please let us know:

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

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

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