First Edition: March 10, 2010

Protests, million-dollar ad campaigns, deepening partisan fault lines and president's stepped-up health reform end game dominate today's health care headlines.

Five Facts About Obama's Proposed Changes To Medicare Payroll Tax Kaiser Health News staff writer Christopher Weaver outlines some key issues, starting with: "Should affluent Americans have to pay Medicare payroll tax on their investment income? President Barack Obama, to help pay for his health care overhaul package, is proposing that high-income Americans pay Medicare taxes on the money they make on their investments" (Kaiser Health News).

Obama Pushing On Health Care End Game President Barack Obama has chosen a suburban St. Louis high school to make his closing argument for a health care overhaul, pushing a new anti-fraud plan as he cranks up the pressure on skittish Democratic lawmakers to act fast (The Associated Press).

Democrats' Full-Court Press On Healthcare Reform The steady stream of top Democrats in and out of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office Tuesday was the latest signal of a full-court press to get a majority of Democrats on board healthcare reform (The Christian Science Monitor).

Parliamentary Hurdle Could Thwart Latest Health Care Overhaul Strategy The White House and Democratic Congressional leaders said Tuesday that they were bracing for a key procedural ruling that could complicate their effort to approve major health care legislation, by requiring President Obama to sign the bill into law before Congress could revise it through an expedited budget process (The New York Times).

Abortion, Religion Impede Health Care Bill Steve Inskeep talks with NPR's Julie Rovner and Father Thomas Reese of Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center about how abortion remains an obstacle to passing health care legislation, and the influence of Catholic Bishops on the health care vote (NPR).

On Health-Care Reform, Republicans Target Democrats' Division Over Reconciliation As Republicans work to prevent a health-care bill from reaching President Obama, they are scrambling to exploit divisions between Democrats in the House and the Senate (The Washington Post).

McConnell Raises Heat On Blue Dogs When Mitch McConnell speaks these days, he expects House Blue Dogs to be listening. It's not that the Senate minority leader imagines himself to be E.F. Hutton, but he's very much part of a newly launched Republican shadow war to block health care reform by playing on the nerves of wavering Democrats across the Capitol (Politico).

Brown Calls His Election 'A Message' Against Health Bill Senator Scott Brown railed yesterday against President Obama and congressional Democrats for continuing their quest to pass a comprehensive health care bill, saying the majority party in Washington has failed to heed the lessons of his own surprise victory in January (The Boston Globe).

Thousands Rally To Support Health-Care Reform In Downtown Washington Amid a sea of brightly colored T-shirts and wave after wave of protest signs, Regina Holliday's homemade banner still stuck out as she marched Tuesday in support of health-care reform (The Washington Post).

Rally Backs Health Plan In a reverse twist on the old protesters' tactic of getting arrested to make a point, union leaders and other backers of President Obama's healthcare plan issued "citizen's arrest" warrants for health insurance executives Tuesday -- accusing them of exploiting consumers (Los Angeles Times).

Business Buys Ads Vs. Health Overhaul Some of the largest U.S. business groups announced a multimillion-dollar television advertising campaign aimed at defeating the Democrats' pending health-care legislation, as both backers and opponents of the initiative sought to target wavering lawmakers in what is expected to be the final phase of the legislative process (The Wall Street Journal).

Health Care Ad Cyclorama To Clog Airwaves It's not quite election season, but President Obama is on the stump, pushing his health care bill. Now, millions of dollars in political ads aimed at swaying Congress are hitting the airwaves (USA Today).

AP-GfK Poll: Public Wants Elusive Accord On Health Americans and their lawmakers are dramatically out of sync on health care, with large majorities of people looking for bipartisan cooperation that's nowhere in sight (The Associated Press).

Disconnect: Gibbs, Hoyer Dispute Vote House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and the White House on Tuesday engaged in a rare public dispute over when healthcare reform will be voted on (The Hill).

Dems: No Thanks To New 'Gang Of 14' Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wants to revive the bipartisan Gang of 14 — this time for health care reform, not judicial nominees. But most of his moderate Democratic colleagues aren't rushing to RSVP (Politico).

Economic Scene - Health Care's Obstacle: No Will To Cut For anyone who cares about medical costs — which is to say anyone who cares about the take-home pay of American families or about the budget deficit — President Obama's health reform plan is a terribly mixed bag (The New York Times).

Cost Of Medical School Rises In Recession
A New Jersey family is struggling to pay for their daughter's medical school education. They know that the average doctor graduates with about $150,000 of student loans, and wonder how they're ever going to pay it (NPR).

Push To Cure Rare Diseases Staff members at the Food and Drug Administration are doing something unusual. They are leaving Washington to help drug makers take a crucial step in developing drugs for rare diseases (The Wall Street Journal).