OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Exchanges move forward

By Sam Baker - 03/07/13 08:31 PM ET

The centerpiece of President Obama's healthcare law went another step forward Thursday as the Health and Human Services Department conditionally approved "partnership" exchanges in four more states. HHS gave conditional approval to partnership exchanges in Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire and West Virginia.

With those four included, HHS has now conditionally approved partnership or state-run exchanges in 24 states and Washington, D.C., likely leaving the federal government in total control of exchanges in the remaining 26 states. Getting the marketplaces ready for open enrollment in October — just seven months away — is a tall order, but HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reiterated Thursday that the department will be ready.

Healthwatch has more details from Thursday's announcement.

Employer coverage is safe: Employers expect to continue providing healthcare benefits, despite criticisms that the Affordable Care Act will erode employer-sponsored coverage, according to a new survey from the National Business Group on Health. Eighty percent of employers in the annual survey said they would not consider sending their employees into the exchanges without a subsidy, and 60 percent said they wouldn't consider such a move even with a subsidy.

“Now that the Supreme Court decision and 2012 elections are behind us, employers are moving forward with new supply-side strategies for the post-reform world,” the group's president, Helen Darling, said in a statement.

Employers do, however, expect to keep raising employees' share of their healthcare costs. Employees cost-sharing has climbed 5.1 percent since last year, but that's the smallest increase in 15 years.

More results from the employer survey are here.

Well, this is terrifying: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now warning of a "nightmare bacteria" resistant to nearly all antibiotics and potentially lethal to half of all people with serious infections. The superbugs most easily spread, of course, through hospitals.

Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee asked the panel's GOP leaders on Thursday to hold a hearing on the new superbugs.

"These hearings should be held as quickly as possible to examine the appropriate federal response to this serious threat to public health," Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said.

Their full letter requesting the hearing is here.

Waivers controversy lives on: Sally Jewell, President Obama's nominee to lead the Interior Department, defended waivers her company received from part of Obama's healthcare law as she testified before a Senate panel Thursday.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) pressed Jewell on healthcare waivers granted to REI, the chain of outdoor apparel stores where she serves as CEO. During his major healthcare push in 2009, Obama publicly praised Jewell and REI for offering healthcare benefits to the company's part-time employees. But after the healthcare law passed, REI received a waiver from new rules restricting the plan it offered to part-time workers.

Healthwatch has more.

State by state

Hospitals are generally the biggest advocates for states accepting the ACA's Medicaid expansion, but it could end up being a bad deal for New Hampshire hospitals.

Kaiser Health News and Stateline interview the director of North Carolina's Medicaid program.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is trying to build support among healthcare stakeholders for her decision to accept the Medicaid expansion.

Lobbying registrations

Bockorny Group / Children's Healthcare of Atlanta

Polsinelli Shughart / UPAC

The Federal Group / American College of Clinical Pharmacy

Reading list

Planned Parenthood walks back its criticism of New York City's anti-teen-pregnancy campaign.

A Health Affairs study looks at the best ways to structure the healthcare law's Accountable Care Organizations.

New York City's ban on large sugary drinks is ushering in a big regulatory headache as the city tries to define when, precisely, a sugary drink becomes "large."

What you might have missed on Healthwatch

Groups urge White House to reconsider ‘borderline discriminatory’ healthcare rule

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‘Perverse regulations’ from health law raising drug costs, study finds

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