First Edition: March 1, 2010

Today's headlines focus on Democratic vote-counting and what plans the future will hold for advancing health reform.

Catholic Directive May Thwart End-Of-Life Wishes An elderly woman taken last year to St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla., had suffered a massive stroke and could no longer speak, eat or drink. Although she had an advance directive specifying no artificial hydration or nutrition if she weren't going to recover, local health officials said, her nephew insisted the local bishop's directive on use of feeding tubes required the Catholic hospital to install one (Kaiser Health News).

KHN Column -- Post Summit Health Reform: What A Mess In his latest column for Kaiser Health News, Robert Laszewski writes: "Everyone agrees our health care system is unsustainable and too often unfair. At the White House health care summit, that was the only common ground between Democrats and Republicans" (Kaiser Health News).

Pelosi Says She'll Get Votes Needed For Health Bill Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is confident she will be able to get the votes needed to pass sweeping health care legislation in the House, even if it threatens the political careers of some members of her party (The New York Times).

Pelosi Confident On Health Vote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday expressed confidence she will have enough votes to pass a health overhaul, but acknowledged it could come at a political cost to lawmakers who back the measure (The Wall Street Journal).

Democrats Will Have Votes For Health Bill, Obama Aide Says Raising the prospect of a "simple up-or-down vote" on health-care reform, White House adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle said on Sunday she thinks Democrats will secure enough ayes on the measure and signaled that the administration could be moving toward trying to pass it along party lines (The Washington Post).

Nancy Pelosi's Brutal Reality Check Health care: Pelosi and other top House Democrats say publicly that they have the votes to push through a comprehensive package, but privately, they know they don't. Pelosi must balance the diverging interests of her own members while simultaneously satisfying Senate Democrats and working with President Barack Obama and his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a former House colleague with whom she has an uneasy relationship (Politico).

Democrats Dig In For Last Stand Democrats took heat over the "Louisiana Purchase," and ultimately disavowed the "Cornhusker Kickback." Now, they are racing to keep Republicans from defining the only legislative tool left to salvage the health care reform bill as yet another tactic hatched in a Democratic back room (Politico).

Both Sides Stand Their Ground On Health Care Three days after an extraordinary forum moderated by President Obama to bridge the gulf between Democrats and Republicans over a health care, leaders of both parties drew clearer lines in the sand on Sunday (The New York Times).

Is Healthcare Bipartisanship Down The Drain? President Obama is still holding out for bipartisanship on healthcare reform. At least that's the rhetoric coming from the White House two days after a historic seven-hour meeting with lawmakers across the street at Blair House (The Christian Science Monitor).

A Health Care Issue Both Parties Can Agree On If you listened carefully to the White House summit on health care last week, you could hear, among all the disagreements, a few points of agreement. One of those agreements is on something called rescission, where health insurance companies cancel policies after people run up heavy bills. Capitol Hill watchers say there could be legislation outlawing the practice within a few months (NPR).

Kaiser Health News tracked news coverage of health policy developments over the weekend, including the chatter from the Sunday talk shows and the GOP position on a temporary COBRA extension.