OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Will healthcare ever hurt Romney?

by Sam Baker and Julian Pecquet - 03/05/12 11:32 PM ET

With Mitt Romney poised for several big wins on Super Tuesday, the political world is one again asking why his healthcare record hasn’t been a bigger liability.

The latest ghosts from Romeny’s past go beyond simply highlighting the similarities between President Obama’s healthcare reform law and the one Romeny signed as Massachusetts governor. In a 2009 USA Today op-ed, as well as in several video clips, Romney says the Massachusetts law — including its individual mandate — would be a good model for national reform.

{mosads}Former GOP Rep. Joe Scarborough (Fla.) was aghast over the USA Today piece on his “Morning Joe” show Monday. “This individual mandate stuff is such a killer,” he said.

But Rick Santorum isn’t much better, according to Scarborough, who lamented that Republicans must choose among “a guy that basically drafted ObamaCare, something that they have campaigned against for three years, a guy that wants to debate about contraceptives, or Newt Gingrich, who is Newt Gingrich.”

Blogger Jonathan Chait posited that Romney could talk up the mandate in 2009 because the opposition to President Obama’s proposal was then centered on the public option. Romney has backtracked as the mandate has become more unpopular on the right, Chait argues.

Meanwhile, Santorum continued to hammer Romney on healthcare as Tuesday’s primaries closed in. He’s hit the issue harder than his rivals but was hardly the first to raise it, and yet nothing ever seems to stick. Healthwatch examined that phenomenon earlier this year, if you care for a refresher.

Back in Washington: The House Energy and Commerce Committee meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday to pass a bill that would repeal the healthcare law’s Independent Payment Advisory Board, a 15-member cost-cutting panel. The measure should pass easily, as all of the House GOP’s repeal bills have. The liberal Center for American Progress argued ahead of the vote that the IPAB is far better than Republicans’ plans for Medicare. Healthwatch has the story.

Contraception update: Radio host Rush Limbaugh apologized to Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke over the weekend and again on his radio show Monday. He said the “two words” he used to describe her — presumably, “slut” and “prostitute” — were inappropriate and that he does not believe either term actually describes Fluke. Limbaugh’s apology came after he lost several advertisers, most recently AOL. The Hill has more.

The liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change is hoping to tie Romney to Limbaugh’s remarks. The group noted in an email to its supporters that Bain Capital, the venture capital firm Romney used to lead, owns Clear Channel, which airs Limbaugh’s show. Americans United for Change is asking its supporters to sign a petition urging Romney to “fire” Limbaugh.

Exchanges: Two prominent, liberal-leaning healthcare experts released a new paper Monday making the case for an “active purchaser” model in state-based insurance exchanges. The paper, by Jacob Hacker and Diane Archer, says states should let their exchanges negotiate with insurance plans rather than accepting every policy that meets federal requirements. The paper, released by the advocacy group Health Care for America Now, is available here.

Tuesday’s agenda

America’s Health Insurance Plans launches its policy conference with a speech from Steve Larsen, who leads the Health and Human Services office overseeing most of the healthcare implementation effort. The full agenda is here.

The Ways and Means Health subcommittee holds a hearing on the IPAB at the same time Energy and Commerce begins its repeal markup.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be back on Capitol Hill to answer questions about the department’s budget request for next year. The House Appropriations Committee’s healthcare panel gets under way at 2 p.m.

State by state

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) signed a bill to change the way the state’s Medicaid program coordinates its services.

A New Hampshire bill to bar taxpayer funding for hospitals, clinics, doctors and others who perform elective abortions jeopardizes the state’s $1.4 billion annual Medicaid program.

Republicans in the Minnesota statehouse are pushing individual savings accounts for healthcare.

Bill tracker

 Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) introduced legislation to streamline state requirements and procedures for veterans with military emergency medical training to become civilian emergency medical technicians (H.R. 4124)  .

Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) has a bill exempting certain requests by physicians for consultations by radiation oncologists from the limitation on certain physician referrals under Medicare (H.R. 4127).

 Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced a bill to exclude from consumer credit reports medical debt that has been in collection and has been fully paid or settled (S. 2149).

Revolving door

 Wayne Smith, the head of Community Health Systems in Tennessee, has been elected chairman of the Board of the Federation of American Hospitals.

Lobbying registrations

 Capitol Counsel / American Physical Therapy Association 

Constantine Cannon / Walgreens (Express Scripts/Medco merger) 

Ernst & Young / Amgen

Reading list

Ohio voters aren’t sure they trust Romney to repeal Obama’s healthcare law, The Wall Street Journal reports.

National Journal recaps the events that turned the contraception debate into a “train wreck” for Republicans.

Doctors with electronic access to patients’ medical records conducted more tests — not fewer — according to a study in Health Affairs.

What you might have missed on Healthwatch

Administration touts health law during National Consumer Protection Week