Health reform implementation

A GOP subcommittee chairman is upping pressure on the Internal Revenue Service to reveal how it will expand its budget and staff to implement the healthcare law.

Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.), who leads the Ways and Means subcommittee on Oversight, wrote to the IRS Thursday asking for new details on how the agency will shift its resources to cope with healthcare reform.

Specifically, he asked how many new employees the IRS will acquire through hiring or loans from other agencies; how current employees may be reassigned; and how much money may be spent over the next 10 years on implementation projects specific to the IRS.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Thursday turned the tables on Democrats who say Republican policies would hurt women and children, by arguing the 2010 healthcare law does more damage to women and children than anyone else, and could even "literally" kill women and children.

"We also know who's going to be hurt," Bachmann said on the House floor. "More than anyone in this bill, it is women who are hurt by ObamaCare. It is children who are hurt by ObamaCare. And even worse ... it is the poorest women and the poorest children who are going to be hurt.

"That's why were here, because we're saying let's repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. Let's not do that," she said.

The chairman of the House Democratic Caucus called on members of the press Thursday to "communicate the truth" about President Obama's healthcare law, which is still widely misunderstood by the public.

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) praised the Affordable Care Act on its third anniversary for "surviving the deception of claims of death panels, of a government takeover of our healthcare."

He challenged reporters on a conference call to expose common "myths" and "mistruths" about the law, calling them "deceptions used to poison the water on a historic change." 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) acknowledged the third anniversary of the Affordable Care Act becoming law.

“Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the greatest single step in generations toward ensuring access to quality, affordable healthcare for every American — the Affordable Care Act,” Reid said Thursday morning on the Senate floor.

An agency official assured lawmakers that smartphones will not be subjected to a controversial tax on medical devices.

Federal health officials are marking the third anniversary of President Obama's healthcare law by highlighting its savings for people on Medicare.

Seniors have saved more than $6.1 billion on prescription drugs since the law's passage, officials said, crediting discounts that are helping close Medicare's "doughnut hole" coverage gap.

Under the Affordable Care Act, seniors in the gap will pay increasingly less for brand-name and generic drugs, with their contribution bottoming out at 25 percent in 2020.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday that President Obama's healthcare law has helped keep costs under control while providing new benefits to millions of Americans.

The number of double-digit increases in healthcare premiums has dropped significantly in the three years since Obama signed the law, she said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"What we're seeing is costs really come down for the first time in a very ling time," Sebelius said. "Medicare costs are significantly lower than they were."

Democrats are confident they’ve finally played the politically divisive issue to a draw.

Three years after it became law, Democrats have made almost no progress explaining the Affordable Care Act to the public.

A Republican bill to toss the requirement that businesses automatically enroll new workers in the company health plan is winning praise from industry.

Reps. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.) are behind the measure (H.R. 1254), introduced Wednesday, which would undo a provision of President Obama's healthcare law.

The lawmakers warned that the auto-enroll provision would bury employers of 200 workers or more in paperwork — a particular threat for industries that experience high employee turnover.