OVERNIGHT HEALTH: More repairs planned for ObamaCare site

by Sam Baker and Elise Viebeck - 10/07/13 10:30 PM ET

Read the USA Today story here.

Counterpoint: So, sure, healthcare.gov got an awful lot of traffic. But wasn’t that kind of the point? “Saturday Night Live” tweaked the administration’s explanation during its “Weekend Update” segment.

{mosads}”You can’t campaign on the fact that millions don’t have healthcare and then be surprised that millions don’t have healthcare,” “Update” anchor Cecily Strong said. “How could you not be ready? That’s like 1-800-FLOWERS getting caught off guard by Valentine’s Day.”

Sebelius on Comedy Central: That’s not a joke. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will make an appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” on Monday night, so be sure to tune in.

Waxman on the offensive: House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) blasted his GOP colleagues for making what he described as unfounded claims about ObamaCare “navigators.” In a letter to Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) Monday, Waxman said the committee’s GOP staff had made false assumptions in criticizing groups going door to door in Florida to promote the Affordable Care Act. Those groups, featured on a Fox News segment, were not actually “navigators” and did not deserve negative attention from the committee, Waxman wrote.

Supreme Court preview: The Supreme Court has opened a new term that could see a decision on ObamaCare’s birth control mandate.

Read our weekend preview at Healthwatch.

Food groups oppose FDA bill: Food safety advocates are telling lawmakers to reject legislation that would restore funding to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Instead, they say, if members of Congress really want to protect food safety they should restore funding for all government agencies in one fell swoop, not through a piecemeal fashion that turns the lights back on one at a time.

“House Republican leadership should not be cherry-picking which agencies reopen and which remain shuttered,” the Center for Food Safety said in a statement on Monday. “Food safety is broader than just the FDA. It is a critical issue that relies on a number of federal agencies working in tandem with one another to ensure that our entire food system is protected.”

Read more at RegWatch.

No more cuts: A bipartisan Medicare reform group is urging Congress not to allow further Medicare cuts in a possible budget bargain. Leaders of the Partnership for the Future of Medicare said that indiscriminate cuts to Medicare, particularly to private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, would represent a “giant step backward” on the path to evidence-based reform.

“We believe any additional cuts to the MA program would reflect a misguided continuation of reimbursement cuts that are short-term budget approaches rather than long-term solutions,” Partnership co-chairmen Kenneth Thorpe and Douglas Holtz-Eakin wrote to lawmakers Monday.

Healthwatch has more from the letter.

Tuesday’s schedule

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will travel to Tampa, Fla.

State by state

ObamaCareseen straining clinics with Medicaid expansion

Vulnerable DC residents could be left without mental healthcare during shutdown

ICYMI: ObamaCare in NJ — a Q&A with Kathleen Sebelius

Lobbying registrations

Forbes-Tate / HCR Manorcare

Forbes-Tate / Merck

Forbes-Tate / Northport Health Services

Forbes-Tate / PhRMA