Anti-abortion legislation probably won't be tied to a vote on the debt limit, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said.

Some House Republicans suggested earlier in the week that the debt ceiling could provide an opening to at least force a Senate vote on the abortion bill. But it's more likely that riders on the debt vote "will deal with financial matters, rather than this," Wicker said.

Wicker on Thursday introduced a companion to the abortion bill the House passed on Wednesday. He acknowledged it's "unlikely" that there are 60 votes for the proposal in the Senate but said supporters would push ahead anyway, despite a veto threat from President Obama.

The bill would codify the existing ban on federal funding for abortion and extend that ban to programs outside the scope of the annual spending bill to which it now applies. New federal programs established under healthcare reform could not facilitate the purchase of private insurance that covers abortion.

The fitness industry wrapped up two days of lobbying with calls to support several bills that promote preventive health. The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association was on Capitol Hill as part of the ninth annual Summit for a Healthier America.

"The widespread practice of primary prevention is critical to public health and our country's future economic competitiveness," IHRSA President and CEO Joe Moore said in a statement. "It's time that our lawmakers fully recognize the valuable and central role that primary prevention can play in creating a healthier America. We are asking them to actively promote public policies and legislation that support primary prevention and personal responsibility — and that remove barriers to healthy lifestyle choices."

The association is supporting legislation that would:

• Amend the No Child Left Behind Act to increase students' physical activity;

• Fund physical education through the Department of Education;

• Allow Americans to use their tax-favored accounts (such as Flexible Spending Accounts) to engage in physical activity;

• Allow employers to deduct the cost of benefits linked to off-site exercise facilities; and

• Require the government to periodically publish the latest research on the benefits of physical activity.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius framed controversial pieces of the new healthcare law as first steps toward entitlement reform as Republicans asked why the administration hasn't put forward more aggressive cuts.

Sebelius criticized Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) proposal to convert federal Medicaid funding into block grants for states during a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing Thursday. When Republican lawmakers pressed her to articulate the Obama administration's alternative proposal to rein in entitlement spending, Sebelius pointed to two provisions of the new law.

The law created a new board of independent experts that will recommend cuts in Medicare payments. Its recommendations will take effect automatically unless Congress votes to block them — and comes up with equivalent savings. Many Republicans oppose the board, and some Democrats have been lukewarm about handing over rate-setting authority to an unelected board.

Seniors should be allowed to dig into their own pockets and pay doctors beyond government-set Medicare rates, several physician groups testified Thursday.

The groups used a hearing on the Medicare physician payment system to urge support for so-called balanced billing legislation introduced Tuesday by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.). The idea is controversial because some fear it risks creating a two-tiered Medicare system.

The American Medical Association, however, testified Thursday that the bill would: give seniors a wider choice of doctors; increase the number of doctors who will continue to see Medicare patients; and would help preserve the Medicare system.

"Under this option," AMA President Cecil Wilson said in written testimony, "Medicare beneficiaries could use their Medicare benefits and physicians could bill the patient for all amounts not covered by Medicare."

The powerful seniors lobby called on Vice President Joe Biden and six congressional deficit negotiators to exempt Medicare and Social Security from any spending caps they are discussing in the context of raising the nation's debt ceiling.

“AARP recognizes the importance of confronting our nation’s fiscal challenges. But as leaders begin to hammer out solutions, we urge them not to subject Medicare and Social Security to arbitrary spending limits that could jeopardize the benefits that millions of older Americans have earned through a life time of hard work," AARP CEO Barry Rand said in a statement.

AARP this week launched an advertising campaign against any cuts to Medicare and Social Security as part of a deal to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, which is estimated to be reached by May 16.

A 54-year-old today would have to save an extra $182,000 to pay for healthcare costs until the age of 84 under the GOP's Medicare proposal, says a new report from the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The center authored its study at the behest of House Education and Workforce ranking member George Miller (D-Calif.), and extrapolates data from a Congressional Budget Office analysis that found that replacing Medicare with subsidies for private insurance would lead to higher costs for seniors.

"Under the Republican plan, seniors will go into debt. They will be forced to sell their homes that they spent a lifetime paying off. And they will have to rely on their children just to pay for basic medical care,"  Miller said in a statement. "This is not what anyone would envision as a dignified retirement."

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said he has no interest in "laying down more markers" that won't pass the Senate.

A majorities of respondents to a new poll — 70 percent and 57 percent, respectively — oppose deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid even after being told of their outsize weight in the federal deficit, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The National Association of Community Health Centers answers questions about the centers' growing role at Kaiser Health News.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) hails the administration's commitment to have the 9/11 victims compensation fund ready to consider health claims by Oct. 1.

Cervical Cancer-Free America launches Thursday morning.

Abortion bill passes: The House on Wednesday voted 251-175 in favor of new restrictions on abortion. The bill, H.R. 3, would bar private insurance policies purchased through new healthcare reform programs from offering abortion coverage. It also would make permanent the Hyde Amendment, which Congress currently takes up in the annual appropriations process.

Senate strategy unclear: Bill sponsor Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) was noncommittal about the prospect of attaching anti-abortion legislation to a vote on the debt ceiling. Healthwatch's Sam Baker has the story.

Better late than never?: A large group of senators introduced companion legislation to another House abortion bill on Wednesday. 

No funds for schools: The House also voted to strip about $100 million for school-based health centers that was in the healthcare reform law. The law set aside $200 million for construction and renovations; the Congressional Budget Office estimated that half of it will have been obligated by the time the GOP bill would become law if it were to pass the Senate, however.

The National Assembly on School-Based Health Care responded with an angry statement from its director, Linda Juszczak: "Despite professed support for school-based health centers, some in Congress won’t stand behind their rhetoric. The bottom line is that those who voted for H.R. 1214 voted against a critical and cost-effective part of our nation’s health care safety net for students."

Friendly fire: Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D.-W.Va.) is no fan of Medicaid block grants. But he said at a press conference Wednesday that House Republicans' budget wouldn't be as bad for the program as a proposal from Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). The pair has proposed an overall cap on federal spending, which Rockefeller said would lead to even bigger Medicaid cuts than block grants. Healthwatch has the story.