In effort to find common ground, possible areas of agreement and disagreement emerge

During his State of the Union address, President Obama signaled an openness to working with Republicans on ways to improve — but not undo — the health law. An area that seems open to such an effort is fixing the overhaul's 1099 tax reporting provision, which is gaining bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. But in terms of medical malpractice reforms, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius noted key policy differences between the President and a GOP-sponsored House bill.

The Hill: Johanns Bill To Repeal Healthcare Law's 1099 Provision Reaches 60 Co-Sponsors
A bipartisan bill in the Senate that would repeal the unpopular 1099 provision in the health care law garnered 60 co-sponsors on Thursday, giving the legislation its best chance at passage so far. Lawmakers have quickly signed onto the measure that would eliminate the requirement that businesses must file the forms to the IRS for every vendor with whom they have at least $600 in transactions since Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) introduced the bill on Tuesday (Needham, 1/27).

Modern Healthcare: Obama Likely To Oppose Some Parts Of Med-Mal Bill: Sebelius
The Obama administration is likely to oppose the Republican medical-malpractice legislation introduced Jan. 25, according to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Following her first congressional testimony on the reform law enacted in March 2010, Sebelius told reporters Thursday that the administration has not yet taken an official position on the malpractice reform bill sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), who is a physician, and supported by the AMA, but some of its central provisions are opposed by President Barack Obama (Daly, 1/27).