SELLING HEALTH CARE — White House officials on Tuesday night went to Capitol Hill to tout their early progress on implementing the health care overhaul and talk about how members can sell it back home. The message: focus on the early roll-out of tangible benefits and, if all goes as planned, win over a skeptical public more than any rhetoric could. Nancy-Ann DeParle and Stephanie Cutter, from the White House Office of Health Reform, briefed the House Democratic Caucus on the soon-to-be implemented reforms. They focused the conversation on consumer-friendly provisions, including extending coverage for dependents through age 26, implementing high-risk pools for Americans with pre-existing conditions and supplementing insurance for early retirees. The programs all have one thing in common: they set a foundation for Democrats to build a strong entitlement program — one that, once implemented, history suggests will be difficult to knock back. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) also showed lawmakers a new health reform calculator that they could put on their websites, which would allow constituents to see how the new law would impact them. POLITICO story
POTENTIAL FOR ANOTHER $115 BILLION IN COSTS — Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday predict the health care overhaul will likely cost about $115 billion more in discretionary spending over ten years than the original cost projections. The additional spending — if approved over the years by Congress — would bring the total estimated cost of the overhaul to more than $1 trillion. Republicans pounced on the news, which they called another sign that the Obama administration makes promises it cannot deliver. ‘The American people wanted one thing above all from health care reform: lower costs, which Washington Democrats promised, but they did not deliver,’ said House Minority Leader John A Boehner (R-Ohio). But a Democratic leadership aide on Capitol Hill said the Congress will have to stay within the budget. ‘Just like other authorized programs, the discretionary programs in health reform will need to compete for funds within set budgetary limits,’ the aide said. The Congressional Budget Office expects the federal agencies to spend $10 billion to $20 billion over 10 years on administrative costs to implement the overhaul. The CBO expects Congress to spend an additional $105 billion over 10 years to fund discretionary programs in the overhaul. The CBO released the estimates in response to a request from California Rep. Jerry Lewis, ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. POLITICO story...CBO letter
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STATES MOUNT CAMPAIGN AGAINST OVERHAUL — The Washington Post’s N.C. Aizenman reports: “Efforts to block a key provision of the new health-care overhaul law are under way in 33 states, as a growing roster of mostly Republican officials have mounted legal and legislative challenges to an eventual requirement that virtually all Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty tax.
“This Friday, seven more states will formally join a lawsuit originally filed by Florida and 12 other states in late March. The suit, filed in a U.S. District Court in Florida, contends that Congress lacks the constitutional authority to mandate an individual's participation in an insurance plan, and that it has infringed on states' rights by requiring them to extend coverage to more low-income residents without fully funding the additional cost. Many constitutional scholars have said the suit has slim chances. But activists say they view the lawsuit as the first of what they hope will be a slew of challenges mounted by state governments, legislatures and individuals, ultimately narrowing the law's scope and possibly unraveling it altogether. ‘This is going to be a long, protracted war of attrition and we haven't even seen the first wave of regulations yet,’ said Clint Bolick, litigation director of the Goldwater Institute — an Arizona-based group that is advising state officials.”
Source: http://feeds.politico.com/click.phdo?i=776698e6cbc93c20e9d774ca60c88ca8
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