Health highlights today

Democrats in both the House and Senate will resume talks Wednesday over controversial health-related bills at play in each chamber. 

Senate leaders are trying to push through a tax package that also contains tens of billions of dollars for state Medicaid programs — money the states say is vital to prevent layoffs and benefit cuts. Democrats have hoped to extend the 6.2 percent increase in the federal share of Medicaid funding — a provision of last year’s economic stimulus bill — through June 2011. Under current law, it expires at the end of December.

But the $24 billion cost has riled budget hawks, forcing Democrats to float an amendment phasing out the extra funding in hopes of winning the support of some Republicans. Offering them some hope, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said on Tuesday that some Republicans would likely be willing to accept some deficit spending in the tax package — maybe half the $60 billion that’s not offset in the current proposal.

Across the Capitol, Democratic leaders are still mulling their approach to Senate-passed legislation providing a six-month delay to a steep pay cut for Medicare doctors. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) doesn’t like that short window, and Democrats are also unhappy with one of the Senate’s offsets: a pension provision that’s wildly unpopular with labor groups. Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said yesterday that the pay-fors might get some reworking in the lower chamber. 

But there’s another reason that Democrats have been publicly reluctant to take up the doc-fix bill: they want the Senate to pass the tax package, and by holding out on the doc fix they’re hoping to put pressure on some Republicans to do just that. "We want the jobs bill so they need to pass the jobs bill," Levin said. Still, with doctors already getting dinged with a 21 percent Medicare pay cut this month, there’s plenty of pressure on Democrats to pass the doc fix quickly.

The House Education and Labor Committee will meet Wednesday morning to examine worker safety issues surrounding the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf. Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) says he’s interested not only in the safety of the thousands of workers cleaning up the mess, but also whether offshore oil rig workers are being protected by the right agencies. On hand to testify will be leaders from the Coast Guard, the Labor Department and the Health and Human Services Department.

Glenn Hackbarth, who heads the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, will testify Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, led by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.). The topic is a big one: how to transition Medicare into a system that rewards quality of care in lieu of quantity. 

The American Enterprise Institute hosts a forum this morning to examine the push for new comparative effectiveness research — studies that compare different treatments for the same ailment to uncover which work the best.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced yesterday that it has postponed next week’s hearing on some Johnson & Johnson drugs that were recently recalled. The new date has yet to be determined.