OVERNIGHT HEALTH: House Dems reject Medicare cuts

As the country moves closer and closer to the "fiscal cliff," Democrats are maintaining a hard line against cuts to Medicare benefits. Party leaders said Wednesday that any cuts to benefits in Medicare and Medicaid should be off the table in a deal to avert automatic spending cuts and tax increases.

Democrats said some reforms could be included, but not proposals that would cut benefits.

"We're willing to talk and to put everything on the table for discussion — at least this Democrat is," Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) said. "But the moment you want to privatize Social Security, or voucherize Medicare, or block-grant Medicaid — that's where you lose us. Because we want to strengthen those programs, not let them die on the vine."

The Hill has more on Democrats' resistance to benefit cuts.

Another state says no: Arizona is the latest GOP-led state to reject a state-based insurance exchange — the cornerstone of President Obama's healthcare law. Gov. Jan Brewer said Wednesday that the decision was one of the hardest she has ever made, but that she ultimately didn't think the sate would have enough control even if it operated the exchange itself.

Healthwatch has the story.

The more things change: Committees and subcommittees with jurisdiction over healthcare will stay in familiar hands for the next two years. House Republicans hammered out committee leaders Wednesday, and the big healthcare panels saw few changes. Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) will still lead the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) will remain atop the panel's Healthcare subcommittee.

Of note: Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), a doctor who has aggressively investigated the White House's 2009 deal with pharmaceutical companies, is the new vice chairman of the Energy and Commerce Oversight subcommittee. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) will chair the subcommittee, taking over for the defeated Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.).

And Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) is, unsurprisingly, back for another two years as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicare.

Rights and privileges: Mississippi's sole abortion clinic is back in the headlines as it seeks to block a state law requiring its physicians to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. Groups that support abortion rights call the law a thinly veiled attempt to shut the Jackson Women's Health Organization, since local hospitals have denied admitting privileges or refused to consider them for the clinic's doctors. Advocates of the policy say it is meant to protect women's health. Several have also expressed a desire to shut down the clinic. Reuters has more about the court motion filed Wednesday.

Insure yourself: Self-insured health plans are on the rise among private-sector employers, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) said Wednesday. The firm called the trend a sign that employers are increasingly sensitive to cost concerns, and said it might continue as the Affordable Care Act is implemented, noting that Massachusetts has seen an increase in the share of workers covered by self-insured plans since implementing its own healthcare reform bill in 2006. With self-insured health plans, companies assume the financial risk associated with covering workers rather than transferring that risk to an insurer. Read more about the EBRI study at Healthwatch.

Thursday's agenda

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will commemorate World AIDS Day 2012 and unveil a roadmap for "achieving an AIDS-free generation."

The American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons is holding a fly-in to lobby Congress on payment cuts under Medicare's sustainable growth rate and as a result of the so-called "fiscal cliff."

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee holds a hearing on the rising rate of autism.

State by state

DEA probes Walgreens pharmacies on prescription drugs in Florida

Michigan studies Medicaid expansion

Mississippi West Nile cases up to 244 for year

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