President Obama has renominated Don Berwick, who avoided a Senate Finance Committee hearing before his recess appointment in July.

The Obama administration released a 13-page report Friday that argues the healthcare reform law will save families and businesses thousands of dollars, prompting immediate criticism from the GOP.

The report says "preliminary evidence suggests" that rate increases in 2011 will be lower than in recent years. In 2014, family policies in the exchanges could be as much as $2,300 less expensive than they would be without the law, and families could save even more thanks to tax credits and cost-sharing assistance.

"Small businesses, on average, could save up to $350 per family policy due to lower costs in the Exchanges and could get tax credits for up to 50 percent of their premiums," the report says. "Even large businesses will likely see lower premiums of $200 per family due to an increase in healthier enrollees."

The report, however, doesn't factor in the increased benefits mandated by the law, which will offer people more comprehensive coverage but at a higher cost. These would increase coverage costs by 10 percent to 13 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The president fired back Friday at GOP claims that the law deprives essential care for seniors and balloons the deficit.

Democrats say they're willing to change the president’s signature domestic achievement in order to improve it. But how?

"Today we hit the magic number 60 and I feel great about that," Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) told The Hill.

Welcome to The Hill's evening roundup of the day's health policy news and advance look at tomorrow's schedule.

Thursday's health news: 

Senate Dem floats public option: Senate health panel Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) started the 16th annual Families USA conference by floating the idea of creating a public option in the future. 

"I think of the current healthcare bill as a starter home," Harkin told the 1,000 or so healthcare advocates. He said dropping the public option last year was a necessary compromise to pass the reform law. http://bit.ly/glFgb2

No 'simple' Medicaid fixes: With a majority of the states asking the federal government to ease Medicaid requirements, Medicare and Medicaid chief Donald Berwick said his agency is engaged with the states to find funding solutions while looking out for beneficiaries. 

"Everyone in the room knows there's no simple answer," Berwick said at the Families USA conference. http://bit.ly/hRV34i

Read more...

On the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Democrats are opting to drop one Democrat (for a total of 12) instead of adding any Republicans to the current 10.

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) are the new Democrats, taking over from Sens. Chris Dodd (Conn.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Jack Reed (R.I.) Republicans are replacing Coburn and Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.) with Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mark Kirk (Ill.).

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) will be replacing defeated Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) on the Senate Finance Committee, according to a list of committee assignments obtained by The Hill. Republicans, meanwhile, have added Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.) and John Thune (S.D.) to their roster after losing Sen. Jim Bunning (Ky.).

That changes the ratio of Democrats to Republicans from 13:10 to 13:11, adding one extra Republican to the panel after the GOP picked up six seats in the midterm elections.

There is "no simple answer" for Medicaid funding problems plaguing the states as they grapple with massive budget deficits, the Medicare chief said Thursday afternoon.

With a majority of the states asking the federal government to ease Medicaid requirements, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Don Berwick said his agency is engaged with the states to find funding solutions "while protecting beneficiaries."

"Everyone in the room knows there's no simple answer," Berwick said to the annual conference of the pro-healthcare reform group Families USA. "What we can commit to is a process."

Earlier this week, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) asked the feds for an exemption from a reform law provision requiring states to maintain their Medicaid eligibility levels until new state-run health insurance exchanges open in 2014. Brewer said the state was seeking to reduce eligibility for about 280,000 individuals.

Residents in 20 states can no longer purchase new child-only policies as a result of the Democrats' healthcare reform law, according to a survey released Thursday by Republicans on the Senate Health committee.

The Obama administration says it's working with insurers to fix the problem, and that other options exist to get children covered. Child-only policies, however, can allow parents who have employer coverage for themselves to insure their children at a lower cost than if they bought a family policy.

Since last September, the new law has barred insurers from turning down children with pre-exising conditions or refusing to cover specific conditions of children who are covered. Several insurers warned at the time that they would leave the market if parents could wait until their children got sick before enrolling them, but the controversy had since quieted down — until now.