Obama to Use Recess Appointment for Berwick

The White House yesterday announced that President Obama, to the chagrin of many Congressional Republicans, will use a recess appointment to make Don Berwick the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Mr. Berwick is touted as an expert in and advocate of quality improvement in health care and is also a renowned Harvard professor and pediatrician. His appointment will remain valid until the end of the 111th Congress in January, at which time he will be subject to another confirmation, and presumably a hearing.

Click here to read more from Politico.
Kaiser Health News has released a resource guide on Mr. Berwick.  Click here to access it.

President Obama Signs Health Reform Bill

At a ceremony in the White House this morning, President Obama signed into law the Senate health reform bill that was passed by the House of Representatives late Sunday night by a vote of 219-212. The bill is expected to cost $940 billion over the next ten years and is estimated to cover 32 million additional Americans by 2019.

The reconciliation bill that was passed by the House following the passage of the Senate reform bill is now headed to the Senate for debate. Because the measure is a reconciliation bill, special Senate debate rules apply. First, debate is limited to only 20 hours and filibusters are prohibited. Second, the Byrd Rule applies, which states that any provision that does not relate directly to the federal budget must be stricken from the bill. If Republicans are successful in challenging the bill through either a point of order or with an amendment, the bill will be sent back to the House for a final vote.

To read more about today's White House signing ceremony, click here.

COBRA Subsidy Extended and Medicare Doc Fix Delayed

On March 2, President Obama signed into law “Temporary Extension Act of 2010,” (H.R. 4961) staving off the expiration of federal COBRA subsidies for 30 days while also delaying a 21% cut in Medicare provider payments. After the House had approved this bill last week, Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY), voicing his objections to how the bill would be financed, initiated and wouldn't back down from a filibuster until late Tuesday night.

Aimed at extending COBRA and unemployment insurance even further, the Senate is set to begin debate on a $150 billion bill introduced by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT). The bill would extend these benefits through December 31, 2010.

For more on these development, click here to access the Kaiser Health News story.

Obama Summit Follow-Up Reaches Out to GOP

In a follow-up letter to last week's health care summit, President Obama yesterday signaled to the Congressional Republican leadership that he is open to considering four GOP health reform ideas. Specifically, they are:

1. Sending undercover federal agents to physician practices that accept reimbursements from government health program to conduct investigations to combat fraud and abuse
2. Allocating $50 million to launch demonstrations of alternatives to resolving medical malpractice disputes, including health courts
3. Increasing Medicaid provider reimbursements in a fiscally responsible manner
4. Expanding the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) by offering high-deductible health plans in health insurance exchanges
   

Immediately, Senators Grassley (R-IA) and McConnell (R-KY) renounced the letter as merely a show. Mr. McConnell moreover warned Democrats that if they insist on jamming a comprehensive health reform, they would surely pay for it in this year's mid-term elections.

For more, click here for a story from the New York Times.
And, to read the President's letter, click here.

Obama Approves COBRA Subsidy Extension

On Monday, President Obama signed into law the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill (H.R. 3326), which includes provisions affecting the federal COBRA subsidy program. The bill extends the 65 percent subsidy duration period to eligible individuals from nine to 15 months and also extends the COBRA coverage eligibility date from December 31, 2009 to February 28, 2010. Eligible workers - those involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 and formerly covered under an employer's group health plan - now include those who are laid off between January 1 and February 28, 2010.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, "the subsidy is provided in the form of a payroll tax credit to employers with 20 or more workers."

For more coverage, clickto visit the Wall Street Journal article or an article from USA Today.