The culture wars flare up again as the House takes up legislation that would bar healthcare plans that cover abortion from receiving any subsidies under the healthcare reform law.

By law, abortion coverage is already segregated from other coverage offered by subsidized health plans so that taxpayer funding can't pay for the abortion portion, but critics say money is fungible; Rep. Joe Pitts's (R-Pa.) bill would simply bar plans that cover abortion from receiving any subsidies. The law makes an exemption in cases of rape or incest or to protect the life of the mother.

Abortion-rights supporters are particularly outraged over a provision of the bill they say could allow federally funded hospitals to refuse to provide abortions, even when the life of the mother could be in danger. The Obama administration has said the president would veto the bill.

Using the budget reconciliation process to repeal healthcare reform would be inappropriate, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Wednesday.

Even if Republicans win the White House and keep the House in 2012, repealing the healthcare law through normal procedures would require the same 60-vote threshold that was needed to pass it. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said during Tuesday night’s debate that he would ask Congress to repeal the healthcare law through reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes in the Senate.

Some parts of the law were passed through reconciliation after Scott Brown’s election deprived Democrats the 60 votes they would need to stop a filibuster on a traditional conference between the House and Senate bills.

Romney said he would grant waivers from the healthcare law on the first day of his administration, then seek a full repeal.

“We have to repeal Obamacare, and I will do that on day two, with the reconciliation bill, because as you know, it was passed by reconciliation,” he said.

But Conrad said that wouldn’t be an appropriate use of reconciliation. The process is intended for policies that reduce the federal deficit, he said. And the Congressional Budget Office said the healthcare law will reduce federal deficits by $143 billion over its first 10 years.

“CBO has also said that repealing the entire health care law would dramatically increase the deficit, so Republicans would be misusing reconciliation if they tried to use it for that purpose,” Conrad said in a statement.

Most Medicare beneficiaries have no idea how the federal program's rating system works, according to a new Kaiser Permanente survey.

The survey comes as the annual enrollment period for seniors starts Saturday. The Department of Health and Human Services has been touting its new Medicare Star Quality Ratings program as a way for seniors to pick the best plan, but the survey found that only 18 percent of beneficiaries are familiar with it - and only 2 percent actually knew their current plan's rating.

"Evaluating a Medicare plan can be challenging. There are many things to consider, but quality should be at the top of any consumer's list," Kaiser Permanente's senior vice president for quality, Jed Weissberg, said in a statement. "Educating consumers about and encouraging them to use the Medicare Star Quality Ratings helps to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries are receiving only the best available care."

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the 2012 ratings on Wednesday. The agency points out that this year it is highlighting plans that have achieved an overall quality rating of 5 stars with a high performer or "gold star" icon to help beneficiaries choose the best plans.

"Over the past year," CMS Administrator Donald Berwick said in a statement. "we have worked to improve health coverage choices for people with Medicare, and make it easier for people to find a plan that is both a good value and meets their health care needs."

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) is the latest congressional Democrat to introduce a bill that would cut Medicare's payments for prescription drugs.

The bill would apply to fewer drugs than other Democratic proposals. While lawmakers including Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) have proposed major cuts in the cost of drugs under Medicare Part D, Kohl's bill would cut costs for drugs administered by a doctor.

Kohl, who chairs the Senate's Special Committee on Aging, proposed expanding rebates paid by drug makers. His bill would apply Medicaid rebates to the Medicare program. Extending rebates for the 20 most expensive drugs would have saved as much as $2.4 billion last year, Kohl's office said, citing figures from the Health and Human Services Department's inspector general.

Kohl asked the deficit-cutting supercommittee to consider the same set of proposals as it looks to slash at least $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit.

More than a dozen House Democrats from California met recently with Medicaid boss Donald Berwick to warn him that Gov. Jerry Brown's request for deep cuts to the state/federal program would devastate healthcare providers and their patients, The Hill has learned.

Brown, a Democrat, has put the Obama administration in a tough spot with his request to cut the state's Medicaid program by $1.4 billion to help plug a $26.6 billion budget gap. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) called the proposed cuts "untenable."

Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) urged Berwick to reject some of the cuts back in July, but last month's meeting demonstrates that other California Democrats also have concerns.

Staffers briefed about the meeting said Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officials were urged to require that California demonstrate that beneficiaries will still have access to care if the cuts go through, as required by law.

Abortion-rights advocates plan to deliver petitions with more than 130,000 signatures Thursday opposing a congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood.

The group CREDO Action plans to deliver the petitions to Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the chairman of the Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee. Stearns, along with other GOP leaders on the committee, recently launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood.

Stearns requested a slew of data from Planned Parenthood, ranging from financial information to policies for reporting illegal activity.

“Anti-choice members of Congress are using this investigation to launch yet another attack on Planned Parenthood,” said Becky Bond, political director of CREDO Action.   “If they can't defund the organization, they want to tie up its staff and resources in a politically motivated investigation. This is an unfair and unjust political assault, and we can't let them win.”

House Democrats have also blasted Stearns' investigation. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on Energy and Commerce, called it an inappropriate use of the panel's oversight authority.

Public Citizen charged limits on medical malpractice suits have made the healthcare system worse in Texas.

The top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday compared Republican defenders of unbridled food marketing to children to past champions of the tobacco industry.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) drew parallels between Wednesday's hearing on proposed voluntary marketing restrictions and a 2003 hearing during which some Republicans promoted the safety of smokeless tobacco.

"I just find this an amazing hearing," Waxman said. "The only thing I can analogize it to is after all the tobacco issues we discussed for many years, Republicans took charge and we never heard anything more about tobacco. Then, suddenly we had a hearing about tobacco. And the hearing was about how smokeless tobacco should be encouraged as a way for smokers to give up smoking. It was geared to promoting an industry that no doubt supported financially many of the members. I wonder if this hearing is about the same subject."

Senate HELP Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is urging the deficit-cutting supercommittee to leave the healthcare law's investments in prevention.

Harkin's letter to the panel pits him against President Obama, who last month recommended that Congress slash the $15 billion fund by $3.5 billion. Harkin was the main champion of the fund during the healthcare reform debate.

"Even though this historic piece of legislation is now the law," Harkin wrote to the supercommittee, "I continue to fight hard for the gains we made, especially investments in prevention and wellness through the Prevention and Public Health Fund… The Prevention Fund is not only good for the physical health of our nation, but for our fiscal well-being as well."