OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Health spending bills in budget crossfire

Once again, government spending — particularly healthcare spending — is threatening to bring Washington to a screeching halt.

As Democrats and Republicans tussle over a temporary spending bill to keep the government open past the end of the month, the battle lines are already being drawn over the full-year spending bill.

{mosads}On Tuesday, Senate appropriators passed a $158 billion health spending bill that might not get any GOP support on the floor. Republicans on the Health Appropriations panel made clear that the bill’s $4.5 billion for the healthcare reform law in particular was unacceptable. Healthwatch’s Julian Pecquet has more on that story.

On the House side, things are even more tangled. Republicans can’t get their health spending bill through committee because a few of their conservative members think the bill is too expensive, sources told The Hill. Read more on that here.

Rate review: The Health and Human Services Department awarded more than $100 million in grants Tuesday to help states bolster their oversight of insurance rates. The bulk of the money will go to states that have the legal authority to block proposed rate hikes from taking effect. Healthwatch’s Sam Baker has more.

Wednesday’s agenda

The Senate Finance Committee convenes in the morning for a hearing on dual-eligible beneficiaries — people who receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits. They’re a small but incredibly expensive group.

The Ways and Means Health subcommittee holds a hearing on expiring Medicare provider payments. The American Hospital Association and American Medical Association will testify.

Also on the Hill, the Senate Appropriations Committee marks up the fiscal 2012 HHS spending bill.

HHS is holding a media call for an “Affordable Care Act announcement about young adult coverage.”

And AARP launches a new national TV ad as part of its campaign to urge Washington and members of the supercommittee to cut waste and tax loopholes, not Medicare and Social Security benefits.

State by state

Utah’s Medicaid director says the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid is open to most of the state’s proposed Medicaid waiver but has raised concerns about provisions that would raise costs for children and pregnant women. The Salt Lake Tribune has more.

The Kansas City Star has an engaging look at the political back-and-forth over insurance exchanges in Kansas and Missouri.

The story quotes Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger defending the basic structure of an exchange. “Some people think it’s a big government takeover, because that’s what they’ve heard. But it’s really something that gives people a way to buy private insurance at affordable rates and subsidize that insurance for those who can’t afford it,” she told the newspaper.

Also in Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback is taking heat from Democrats after returning the state’s $31.5 million “early innovator” grant, The Wichita Eagle reports.

Bill tracker

The House on Tuesday approved legislation calling for five more years of funding for autism research (H.R. 2005) and graduate medical education at children’s hospitals (H.R. 1852). The bills, which would need to be appropriated, cleared the Senate HELP Committee earlier this month.

Medicaid opt-out: Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) are expected to unveil legislation allowing states to opt out of the healthcare reform law’s Medicaid expansion.

Fraud fight

The former president and administrator of a fraudulent physical therapy company in Lakeland, Fla., was sentenced to 24 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare.

Lobbying registrations

Van Scoyoc Associates / Electrochemical Oxygen Concepts dba EO2 Concepts (medical device manufacturer)

Reading list

The chief executives of pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions told Congress Tuesday that the companies’ proposed merger would not threaten competition in the PBM sector, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration are partnering on a multimillion project to create a computer chip that can better probe potential drug toxicity, reports FierceBiotech. The project would be run out of a proposed National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, championed by NIH chief Francis Collins, that some lawmakers want to scuttle.

What you might have missed on Healthwatch:

— GOP Rep. Roe restarts a man’s heart

— Ron Paul blasts Obama for proposed cuts to veterans’ healthcare

— Consumer groups urge rejection of drug benefit manager merger

— Sen. Alexander says he’s stepping down from Republican conference to spend more time tackling healthcare spending

— New group to delve into U.S. healthcare spending