First Edition: April 3, 2011

Today's headlines include reports on the GOP's ongoing efforts to defund the health law as well as the impact a new rule might have on Medicaid provider payments.

Kaiser Health News: Insuring Your Health: Graduates Without Health Coverage Should Consider Their Parents' Plan
In her latest Kaiser Health News consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes: "In past years, a student's graduation could mean leaving behind not only the classroom but also health insurance coverage, since family plans often stopped covering dependent children once they left school. The health-care overhaul has changed that: Adult children can now remain on their parents' plan until age 26, with few exceptions. (More on that later.) But even if coverage under a family plan isn't an option, the new law has helped ensure that some of the other choices available to young adults offer better protection than they have in the past" (Andrews, 5/3).

Kaiser Health News: Health On The Hill - Congress Returns To Work On Deficit Proposals And Health Programs
Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey and Politico Pro's David Nather talk with Jackie Judd about Congress' return to Washington to work on proposals to lower the deficit. How to, and if, Medicare and Medicaid are reformed in the process are part of the mix of policy and politics lawmakers are considering in reducing the deficit (5/2). Watch the video or read the transcript.

Kaiser Health News Guest Opinion: The Hypocritical And Reckless Attacks On The Ryan Plan
In his latest Kaiser Health News column, James Capretta writes: "It should be obvious by now that the president of the United States and his political allies are hoping to ride demonization of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare reform proposal all the way to electoral victory in November 2012" (5/2).

Kaiser Health News Guest Opinion: Federal Efforts Build Momentum To Address Health Inequities
In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Brian Smedley writes: "During the month of April -- Minority Health Month -- the Obama administration took significant steps to build momentum for efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic health inequities. But with this momentum the stakes have become higher than ever, just as fiscal and political pressures mount that could undermine progress" (5/2).

Kaiser Health News: 'Big Cleanout' No Cure For Hoarding
Kaiser Health News's Peggy Girshman writes: "If basic cable is any indication we have a fascination with hoarding. 'We all love a good train wreck' says Mark Odom, clinical consultant to the Orange County (Calif.) Task Force on Hoarding. He says many people - including psychiatrists - think hoarders are obsessive/compulsive. It's even listed that way in the 'bible' of psychiatric disorders, the DSM IV. But that's not necessarily true, according to several studies presented at the annual conference of the American Society on Aging, which wrapped up this weekend in San Francisco. Hoarders are more likely to be depressed, anxious or have social phobias than to have OCD" (Girshman, 5/2).

The Associated Press: Analysis: Bin Laden-Fed Unity May Be Short-Lived
Congress certainly could use some bipartisan goodwill these days. Lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Monday after a two-week recess that featured emotional public forums on divisive issues including deficit spending, Medicare's growing costs and the need to raise the national debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on loans (Babington, 5/3).

The Washington Post: Another Week, Another Vote (Or Two) To Defund Health-Reform Bill
The news of Osama bin Laden's death may have consumed Capitol Hill Monday, but it didn't alter House Republicans' plans to continue their months-long quest to defund President Obama's health-care plan. Unable to decapitate last year's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the GOP has decided instead to administer death by 1,000 cuts — with two more cuts coming this week (Pershing, 5/2).

The New York Times: Rule Would Discourage States' Cutting Medicaid Payments To Providers
In a new effort to increase access to health care for poor people, the Obama administration is proposing a rule that would make it much more difficult for states to cut Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals (Pear, 5/2).

Politico: States Turn To Work-Arounds On Health Insurance Exchanges
State governments across the country are exploring work-arounds to get health exchanges up and running after Republican legislators and tea party protests have blocked state laws to implement this piece of health care reform (Kliff, 5/3).

The New York Times: When Meeting A Congressman, Leave Nothing to Chance
 It was no accident that Gina Gennaro found herself outnumbered at a town-hall-style meeting the other night and shushed when she tried to press her objections to Republican plans to remake Medicare (Lacey, 5/2).

Politico: 89 Arrested In Medicaid Plan Protest
Capitol Police arrested 89 disability rights protesters late Monday for occupying the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building in a demonstration against Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicaid plan, which they said would force people with disabilities to live in nursing homes rather than in their own homes (Nather, 5/2).