While the Wall Street Journal takes a look at how the individual mandate could be viewed by specific justices, news services report on the chief justice’s view of the health care recusal issue.
The Wall Street Journal: A Brief Look Ahead – Health Care On Trial; How The Individual Mandate Might Play At The High Court Three of four federal appeals courts have rejected challenges, but the high-court outcome is uncertain. Based on prior writings, the four liberal justices seem likely to uphold the act, while only Justice Clarence Thomas appears sure to vote against it. A
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Boston Globe: Senate GOP Scapegoats Another Local Academic Don Berwick, the prominent pediatrician and Harvard School of Public Health professor who headed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has officially stepped down, another victim of Washington’s hyper-partisan politics. … Berwick’s transgression? In the past, he had spoken favorably of Britain’s National Health Service. What’s more, he had had the temerity to acknowledge the obvious: Financial resources to pay for health care are limited, and therefore it makes sense to compare the effectiveness of various treatments and decide which are worth funding and which are not (12/2).
The Washington Post: The White House Needs To Come Clean On Elena Kagan And The Affordable Care Act If the Supreme Court upholds the individual mandate, it will set a precedent for future Congresses and expand the federal government’s reach into our everyday lives. …
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The Washington Post: Democrats Lobby Against Any Broader Exceptions To Contraceptive Coverage Democratic lawmakers, fearful that President Obama is on the verge of significantly diluting a proposed regulation that would give millions of women access to birth control without out-of-pocket insurance charges, are furiously lobbying the White House to hold the line (Aizenman, 11/22).
CQ HealthBeat: Democrats Try To Ward Off Changes To Exemptions For Birth Control Coverage A group of House Democrats asked President Obama to oppose expanding an exemption that allows religious groups to opt out of providing free contraceptive services through their employee health plans.
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Emergency home repair insurer, HomeServe, is reported to have suspended outgoing sales calls and embarked on a retraining programme for staff, in response to accusations of mis-selling.
According to a report in The Sun, the company is in the process of reviewing the protocols followed by its 500 sales staff.
In a statement to the newspaper, HomeServe has apparently confirmed that it will not recommence outbound sales calls until relevant staff have been through a comprehensive retraining programme and all sales procedures meet expected standards.
In July, HomeServe was called to account by Ofcom after an investigation concluded that its call centre staff were persistently ringing homes and then abandoning calls before speaking, leaving the recipient with silence.
An attempt to bring up a bill to fast-track efforts to repeal the CLASS Act was beaten back by Democrats. But the AARP and 50 other advocacy groups sent a letter to lawmakers asking them not to touch the measure.
Politico Pro: CLASS Act Repeal Maneuver Fails In Senate Senate Democrats beat back an effort by Sen. John Thune to push through repeal of the CLASS Act on Wednesday afternoon. Thune (R-S.D.) tried to fast-track his bill to eliminate the CLASS Act by bringing it up through unanimous consent, pointing to the Obama administration’s decision to halt implementation of the financially troubled program (Millman and Haberkorn, 11/2).
The Hill: Senate GOP Pushes For CLASS Repeal Senate Republicans on Wednesday made the case for repealing the health care reform law’s CLASS program. Se
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News outlets report on a number of state health policy issues and developments.
The Wall Street Journal: State Seeks Help To Cut Cost Of Chronically Ill The governor of Massachusetts wants to hire private insurers or other third parties to manage care for the poor and chronically ill patients who use a disproportionate share of public health-care dollars. The proposal comes as state and federal officials search for a cheaper way to deliver health care to people known as “dual eligibles.” These are the 9.2 million in the U.S.
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The Obama administration must decide today whether to ask the full U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a 2-1 August decision declaring unconstitutional the health law’s individual mandate. If it does seek the full court’s review, which could take weeks or months, it will likely push back a Supreme Court ruling until 2013.
Los Angeles Times: Obama Administration Must Make Risky Health Care Decision Obama administration lawyers face a decision by Monday that carries a high political risk and will probably determine whether the Supreme Court decides on the constitutionality of the health care law before next year’s presidential election (Savage, 9/25).
Meanwhile, late last week, the D.C. Circuit Cou
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