OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Senate blocks repeal, but Republicans not done

Dem senator asks for quick Supreme Court ruling: Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is asking his colleagues to call on the Supreme Court to quickly decide on lawsuits challenging the healthcare reform law. He introduced a resolution on Wednesday, two days after a judge in his home state struck down the entire reform law. However, the Obama administration so far seems content with letting the lawsuits play out in the appeals process.

Thanks, but no thanks: Following the ruling, Florida has returned $1 million in federal funding for reform law implementation, the St. Petersburg Times reports. The money was sent to the state to study its rate review procedures.

Gov. says no to implementation: Wisconsin’s new Republican Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday the state’s attorney general was right to say the Florida ruling requires the state to stop implementing the reform law. However, Walker told CNBC the state would pursue a state-run insurance exchange.

“We don’t think an exchange is a bad thing, but it shouldn’t be one where the government gets to mandate what the coverage is and who the providers are,” Walker said.

Anti-abortion groups attack Planned Parenthood: The Susan B. Anthony List and a handful of anti-abortion groups are seizing on a new controversial video to call on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood. A new website provides a venue for activists to urge their representatives to support a bill that would strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding. Each year, the organization receives $350 million for all government grants and contracts on the local, state and federal level.

New investigation: Republicans on a powerful House panel
announced a new investigation into the healthcare reform law – its third
since taking control less than a month ago. This time, Energy and
Commerce Republicans are asking
for details on how HHS is spending the $1 billion health insurance
Reform Implementation fund, as well as the $400 million allocated by the
2009 stimulus package for comparative effectiveness research.

Schumer said changing individual mandate would weaken reform law: “You’d have to look at the specific proposals,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters on Wednesday when asked about Democrats’ willingness to change the individual mandate. “The bottom line is that
if you change the mandate, one of two things will happen: Many of the
good things in the bill will not be there, such as pre-existing
conditions, or premiums will go way, way up.”

1099 in the House: The House Small Business Committee will hold a full committee hearing on Feb. 9 on repealing the 1099 reporting requirement included in the reform law.

Medicare quality: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a proposed rule that requires most Medicare providers and suppliers to provide beneficiaries written notice about their right to contact a quality improvement organization with concerns about care quality.

Reading list:

Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget blueprint would cut about $718 billion from Medicare and Medicaid over the next nine years, according to Bloomberg Government.

A top Arizona official said HHS has until Oct. 1 to decide on the state’s Medicaid waiver request, the Associated Press reports. 

Massachusetts was ranked No. 1 in children’s healthcare, the Boston Globe reports.

HHS’s information technology office said two pilot projects have been successfully exchanging electronic health information, the New York Times reports. 

The liberal Center for American Progress launches an interactive, point-by-point assessment of what the group believes are errors in the Florida ruling.

Florida lawmakers are looking to expand privatization of the state’s Medicaid program, but it may not gain approval from the feds, Businessweek reports.

What you might have missed on Healthwatch: 

Before the Senate vote, the White House and liberal groups were pushing back against the GOP.

The Senate Judiciary Committee debated the constitutionality of the reform law. Charles Fried, solicitor general under President Reagan, called the individual mandate a “no-brainer.”

Early in the afternoon, Sen. Schumer left the door open for some Senate Democrats to support repeal. But in the end, none did. 

Republican and Tea Party-affiliated groups were pressuring vulnerable Senate Democrats to support the repeal measure. 

Republicans say Democrats are taking credit for the 1099 repeal effort.

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

Jason Millman: jmillman@digital-staging.thehill.com / 202-628-8351

This post was corrected at 12:35 p.m. Thursday with information on Planned Parenthood funding.