Exchange rule likely today

In other health reform coverage, news outlets report on the divisive impact IPAB is having among Democrats, how health care is playing among GOP presidential hopefuls and what might happen in the legal challenge to the health law.

Politico Pro: Exchange Rule Likely To Be Released Monday
Mark your calendar: Multiple industry sources tell Politico the much-anticipated health exchange regulation will be released on Monday at 11 a.m. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is slated to make an "important Affordable Care Act announcement" at that time. The HHS external affairs office sent an invitation to the event, hosted at a hardware store in Southeast Washington, to some health industry groups late Thursday afternoon (Kliff, 7/8).

Kaiser Health News: It seems like a simple idea: create new marketplaces, called "exchanges," where consumers can comparison shop for health insurance, sort of like shopping online for a hotel room or airline ticket. But, like almost everything else connected with the health law, state-based insurance "exchanges" are embroiled in politics (Appleby, updated 7/10).

Politico: Top Democrats Split On IPAB
For the past year, Democrats have been mostly united on health care issues, especially in the face of Republican efforts to repeal President Barack Obama's landmark law. But this week, House Republicans plan to fire their opening salvos against the Independent Payment Advisory Board — an issue on which Democrats are far from united (Haberkorn, 7/10).

The Washington Post: Huntsman, Pawlenty May Be Vulnerable When They Criticize Romney On Health Care
The universal health care that Mitt Romney passed as Massachusetts governor has proven to be a popular target for his critics. But it could be Romney's good luck that his two main establishment rivals for the GOP nomination are less than ideally positioned to capitalize on this liability. When they set out to reform health care in their states, both Jon Huntsman, former governor of Utah, and Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, considered the same tools that Romney adopted, including a mandate that people obtain health insurance and a state "exchange" where they could buy it. Both men ended up settling for reforms far more limited than Romney's. But their records have left them open to charges of hypocrisy when they blast the Massachusetts and national health-care laws (MacGillis, 7/10).

Politico Pro: Next ACA Case Unlikely To Have Big Impact
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is slated to be the next federal court to hear a health reform case next week in Pasadena, but the case is unlikely to have a significant impact on the law's path to the Supreme Court. The district court was one of the first to issue a health reform ruling, but since then the suit has gotten delayed, pushing it back behind the many others. Some legal analysts also theorized that the court — traditionally one of the most liberal — would want to sue a ruling upholding the law ahead of other appeals panels (Haberkorn, 7/8).