Healthcare

The House Tuesday afternoon approved a rule allowing consideration of three bills, all of which are expected to be taken up this week. The rule was approved in a 238-181 vote; only six Democrats supported it, and one Republican opposed it.

The rule covers H.R. 1216, which would reduce federal funding for graduate-level medical education that was provided for in last year's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The House immediately moved to debate on this bill and is expected to approve it later Tuesday.

The rule also covers the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which the House is expected to take up Tuesday and Wednesday. And it allows the House to immediately take up an extension of Patriot Act surveillance authorities, which the Senate will vote on first this week.

The Obama administration on Monday evening released a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) that said it supports S. 1038, which would extend Patriot Act surveillance authorities until June 1, 2015.

"It is essential to avoid any hiatus in these critical authorities," the SAP said. The Senate on Tuesday resumes consideration of this bill, which is a compromise between Democrats, who wanted a shorter extension, and Republicans, who wanted a longer one.

House Republicans next week plan to approve another bill targeting the automatic federal funding of healthcare programs that was established in last year's healthcare law.

Republicans plan to take up H.R. 1216, which would terminate more than $200 million in funding over the next decade that is currently slated to fund training for graduate-level medical students. That funding was put in place by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act last year, through language that amended the Public Health Service Act.

Six Senate Republicans on Monday introduced legislation that would hit doctors with heavy fines and imprisonment if they fail to inform parents when their minor daughters seek an abortion.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), said that state laws requiring parental notification have helped to reduce teen abortion rates, but that these laws can be dodged when abortions are sought across state lines. He said a federal law covering all states would solve this problem, and that the proposal is widely supported across the country.

"Polls show nearly 80 percent of Americans agree parents should have the legal right to stop an abortion from being performed on their minor daughter," he said.

Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) on Tuesday said the deteriorating conditions for healthcare delivery in Massachusetts offer a sign of things to come under the national healthcare law that was approved last year.

"We only need to look at Massachusetts to see a preview of what is in store if we fail to repeal Obamacare," Pitts said on the House floor. Pitts, who chairs the House Energy & Commerce health subcommittee, said that while the Massachusetts health reform plan was expected to reduce delays in seeing a primary care physician, the opposite has happened.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Thursday said he would like to tie an increase in the debt ceiling to an end to all funding for last year's healthcare law.

"I'd put the cutting off of all funds to Obamacare on that debt ceiling bill and say, there's going to be no raising of the debt ceiling here by the House of Representatives unless we shut off all the funding that's going to implement or enforce Obamacare, at least until such time as the Supreme Court should rule," King said.

Republicans passed the bill over Democratic objections that it goes too far by enforcing this ban through the tax code.

Members of the House on Wednesday voted to end a program established in last year's healthcare law that spends $50 million per year on construction of school-based health facilities.

The House approved the bill, H.R. 1214, in a 235-191 vote. Four Republicans opposed it, and only three Democrats supported it.

The vote is the second in as many days in which the House repealed a piece of the healthcare law. On Tuesday, the House voted 238-183 to end federal grants meant to help states establish health insurance exchanges, although the White House has said it would veto that bill.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) each spoke out Wednesday on a Republican bill that would permanently ban the use of federal funds for abortion.

The bill, H.R. 3, would not only codify the temporary ban on federally funded abortion, but would also eliminate federal tax breaks on health insurance policies that cover elective abortion procedures. Pelosi and other Democrats said this goes too far and would limit healthcare access for women.

"For the first time, this bill places restrictions on how women with private insurance can spend their private dollars in purchasing health insurance," Pelosi said. "This bill will deny tax credits for women who buy the type of health insurance that they currently have, health insurance that covers a full range of reproductive care."

House Democrats on Wednesday sharply criticized Republican plans to enforce a ban on federally funded abortions through the tax code.

The House started debate shortly after noon on H.R. 3, which would make permanent a ban on abortions funded with taxpayer dollars that has been in place temporarily for decades via the Hyde Amendment. But while Republicans said the bill would simply codify existing practice, Democrats bristled at new tax-related language in the bill.