Senate ‘Gang Of Six’ Develops Deficit Reduction Framework
Meanwhile, the House GOP sharpens its budget-cutting focus on Medicare and entitlements.
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Meanwhile, the House GOP sharpens its budget-cutting focus on Medicare and entitlements.
The measure is scheduled for mark-up today by the House Ways and Means Committee and is expected to pass easily.
A Republican strategy firm urged GOP lawmakers to stand firm against the measure, and to only take action if affected industries "endorse full repeal."
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Lawmakers around the country are coping with tight budgets by proposing legislation that would alter state workers' health benefits, cut back on social service programs and change insurance regulations.
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about a "potential escape hatch" for states struggling with their ever-increasing Medicaid rolls.
"Rising food prices pushed tens of millions of people into extreme poverty last year and are reaching 'dangerous levels' in some countries, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Tuesday as he released new data showing that the cost of grain and other staples is near a historic high," the Washington Post reports (Schneider, 2/15). About 44 million people in developing countries have been pushed into poverty because of food prices that have risen since June, according to information from the bank, which was released ahead of the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank heads, a World Bank press release states (2/15).
TIME reports on an oral cholera vaccination program to kick off on Thursday in Bangladesh that researchers hope will determine how good of a "weapon" the mass vaccination strategy can be "against an old disease" (Marshall, 2/15).
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah on Tuesday delivered a speech at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he reaffirmed President Barack Obama's commitment to the 6-year $63 billion Global Health Initiative (GHI) and discussed the USAID's role in bolstering U.S. global health programs, CIDRAP News reports.
President Obama acknowledged Tuesday that more needs to be done to resolve the nation's long-term budget problems and he signaled an interest in working toward a compromise with Republicans.
House Republican lawmakers are continuing work on ratcheting down spending in the current year continuing resolution to fund the federal government. Some discretionary health programs are feeling the heat.
Among the strategies being used are efforts to change rules, revise definitions, tighten anti-fraud efforts and cut services.
Health care news from around the states, including from Iowa, Massachusetts, Colorado, Georgia and Maryland.
Meanwhile, in other news related to health reform, the Internal Revenue Service is seeking $119 million in new funds in order to enforce the tax-related provisions of the health overhaul.
But CQ HealthBeat reports that the government's top Medicare and Medicaid fraud buster told a Senate panel that the current-year spending plan being advanced by House Republicans could undermine the fed's efforts to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system.
The grants, which are to be used to set up the framework for the health law's state insurance exchanges, will reportedly go to Kansas, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Wisconsin and a consortium led by Massachusetts.
Both Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Ranking Member Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pushed for an overhaul of Medicare's physician payment formula. Meanwhile, Baucus is not "ready to commit" to hold confirmation hearings for the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In related news, a House panel approved legislation that restricts federal funding for abortions for any programs that are part of the new health law.
In a letter to Arizona's governor, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote that a federal waiver is not necessary to proceed with the state's plan. Sebelius did not approve of the waiver request.
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