OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Supreme Court to rule Thursday

The whole story is here.

Roberts’s big week: The Supreme Court justices often describe themselves as neutral arbiters of the law, compelled solely by their interpretations of the Constitution. But every chief justice nevertheless has a legacy, and John Roberts’s will be defined in large part this week.

{mosads}The court handed down another highly anticipated decision Monday, overturning most of Arizona’s hot-button immigration law while upholding the controversial provision. And though Roberts still has decades left on the bench, the healthcare case is so hugely important that it will surely remain an integral part of his legacy, no matter what else comes along. Healthwatch has a closer look at what this week will mean for Roberts.

Winners and losers: Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, definitely want the court to strike down the healthcare law. But new data indicate that such a ruling would have an outsized effect in swing states. In several key battlegrounds, there are at least 500,000 people slated to gain health coverage in 2014 who would remain uninsured if the court strikes down all of the Affordable Care Act. Nationwide, about 22.4 million people would remain uninsured, according to new data from Avalere Health. Healthwatch has more.

Money, money, money: Federal officials touted billions in savings for seniors under healthcare reform just hours before the Supreme Court might have ruled against the law. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), more than 5 million seniors and people with disabilities have saved about $3.7 billion on prescription drugs since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. CMS also released data showing that Medicare beneficiaries have gained an average of $651 in savings on prescription drugs because of healthcare reform this year. The agency’s acting administrator, Marilyn Tavenner, praised the law in a statement, saying that it will be close the so-called “doughnut hole” by 2020.

Read more from Healthwatch here.

State by state

Even if the health law is struck down, some changes in New Jersey will endure, The Record reports.

Georgia will soon allow interstate insurance sales, but no company has signed on yet, NPR reports.

A strict pro-abstinence law in Tennessee bars educators from promoting “gateway sexual activity,” but lawmakers were unable to flesh out the details during floor debate. The Associated Press has the story.

The Lincoln Journal Star looks at the rising problem of overmedicating wards of the state.

Lobbying registrations

Black Swan LLC – Jochum Shore & Trossevin PC / American Society of Nephrology

Reading list

Ezra Klein asks: If opponents of the healthcare law get their way and it is struck down, what will come next?

Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), thought to be a likely opponent to Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) if she runs again in 2014, has a bill to change funding for Medicaid. The Times-Picayune has more.

Kaiser Health News takes readers inside Monday morning’s session at the Supreme Court.

The Food and Drug Administration is scrutinizing the safety of certain metal hip implants, The Associated Press reports.

Scientists have located the cells in the cervix that are most susceptible to the HPV virus, The New York Times reports.

An outbreak of E.coli that hit several states may be over, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Reuters has more.

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