OVERNIGHT HEALTH: CLASS flails as mandate heads back to court

One of the most controversial elements of healthcare reform might not get off the ground after all. The Department of Health and Human Services is delaying implementation of the CLASS program for at least a year, and the department has reassigned everyone who was working in the CLASS office.

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, championed by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) would provide long-term-care insurance. Although HHS has tried to project confidence publicly that the program will both exist and be solvent, sources told The Hill that HHS asked Congress not to fund implementation of the CLASS program next year.

Healthwatch’s Julian Pecquet has much, much more on the CLASS Act drama.

Congressional Republicans sent a 10-page letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius late Thursday asking for a detailed update on the CLASS Act and HHS’s plans for moving forward.

“The public has a right to know what is happening to this office, whether HHS intends to implement the CLASS program, and if so, who is going to do the work,” Republican lawmakers wrote.

GOP round three: The Republican presidential field is set to debate yet again tonight — and this time, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney might not be at the center of the healthcare attacks from the rest of the field. Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) traded barbs last time over Perry’s executive order mandating that high-school girls in Texas schools get the HPV vaccine. Bachmann has since claimed that the drug causes “retardation,” prompting an outcry from scientists and public-health advocates.

So will HPV emerge as the central healthcare fight? Or will the contenders step up their attacks on Romney and the similarities between his version of healthcare reform and President Obama’s?

One thing you’ll definitely see during the debate: A new ad from the group Protect Your Care that plays up the “let him die” moment from the last GOP debate. The spot is online here.

Supercommittee lobbying: As expected, healthcare groups are flooding the supercommittee with letters that ask the panel to either spare them from its cuts or consider their longstanding legislative priorities.

State Medicaid directors submitted a letter Thursday that doesn’t include any savings estimates, but said both states and the federal government would be better off if states had more flexibility over their programs. The letter says the supercommittee should let states move people into managed care without a waiver and share in the savings from better coordination of care for dual-eligible beneficiaries. Healthwatch has more.

Similarly, the American Medical Association urged the supercommittee to fully repeal the “sustainable growth rate” formula that Medicare uses to pay doctors. Although that’s an expensive proposition, the endless short-term patches that Congress has been pursuing instead are even more expensive.

Nursing homes are taking a slightly different tack in their pitch to supercommittee members, emphasizing their comparatively low Medicare payments rather than arguing that they’ve taken too many cuts already. Read the Healthwatch post on the industry’s latest effort.

Data fight intensifies: The Health Resources and Services Administration has rebuffed calls from several journalism groups to restore public access to a database of healthcare records. The database tracks metrics such as disciplinary action, which reporters use to assess the safety of local facilities. HRSA pulled down the public version of the database after it became concerned that it could be used to identify individual doctors.

HRSA declined to re-release the database in response to a letter from several journalism organizations. And just as it issued that response, more specialty journalism groups joined the protest.

Also: HHS released updated its guidelines Thursday for dealing with the media. Our favorite is the bullet point about “Allowing employees who speak at conferences or other public events to answer reporters’ questions at that time."

Friday’s agenda
The healthcare law’s individual mandate is back in court tomorrow, this time before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The hearing is set for 9:30 a.m.

The Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on drug shortages. HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh is slated to testify.

State by state
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has officially decided to seek federal grant money to set up a state-based insurance exchange, the Idaho Statesman reports.

Bill tracker
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) introduced a bill that would let states opt out of healthcare reform’s Medicaid expansion. About half of the people who will gain coverage under the new law will get it from Medicaid.

Fraud fight
Ten Miami-area residents pleaded guilty in a $25 million Medicare fraud case.

Reading list
A lack of access to health coverage creates trickle-down effects for people who do have insurance, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says.

Kaiser Health News looks at employer-based programs that try to steer employees’ choices.

Researchers are making the case that personalized medicine will save money, the AP reports.




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