Morning CheckUp: July 26, 2011

Welcome to Morning CheckUp, ThinkProgress Health’s 7:00 AM round-up of the latest in health policy and politics. Here is what we’re reading, what are you?

Reid plan: Raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion, enough to last the government through 2012, and would include $1.2 trillion in discretionary spending cuts decided in earlier bipartisan talks led by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. An additional $100 billion would come from “savings” in mandatory programs, including the sale of spectrum and changes to farm subsidies and $1 trillion would come from “savings from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. [CQ]

Boehner alternative: Immediately cut spending and impose a 10-year cap on discretionary spending to save $1.2 trillion, force a vote on a constitutional amendment by October 1, and raise the debt limit by $1 trillion, an amount expected to satisfy the government’s borrowing needs until next February. The caps would include a sequester mechanism that would be triggered if the spending limits were not met in any year, forcing across-the-board spending cuts in all non-exempt accounts. The specifics of the proposal to cut an additional $1.8 trillion in federal spending would be prepared by a 12-member joint congressional committee in December made up of three lawmakers from each party and each chamber. [CQ]

A possible compromise: “The final plan could adopt Reid’s initial spending cuts, which are both slightly larger and more impressively stated than Boehner’s, and Reid’s longer debt-ceiling increase. But it could adopt Boehner’s idea for across-the-board spending cuts — perhaps in an augmented form that includes penalties designed to bring Republicans to the table — if a second round of deficit reduction doesn’t pass. It could also include a vote on a balanced-budget amendment, though I personally dislike this policy and consider it a mistake.” [Ezra Klein]

Obama’s prepares for stalemate: “I’m not really sure what Obama was trying to accomplish in his speech. I thought he would try to find some kind of lowest common denominator between the Reid and Boehner plans that would stand a chance of passing Congress. He didn’t. Instead he appealed once again to the Grand Bargain. If Obama thinks Congress will pass something like that, he’s nuts. The Senate might, but the House never, ever would. The most rational explanation for Obama’s speech is that he’s positioning himself for failure. He’s explaining his position so that when Congress fails to lift the debt ceiling, Americans will blame the Republicans and not him.” [Jonathan Chait]

Boehner’s plan could still lead to downgrade: “Minutes before House Speaker John Boehner delivered a prime-time address in which he framed his latest deficit-reduction deal as a silver bullet for the nation’s economic uncertainty, reports surfaced that the plan being crafted by the Ohio Republican would potentially lead to a downgrading of the AAA credit rating of the United States.” [Sam Stein]

Feds to begin rate review: “Starting Sept. 1, federal and state officials will begin to scrutinize proposed rate increases of more than 10 percent to determine if they are justified. White House officials say their ability to publicize excessive, unreasonable rates will be a major protection for consumers under President Obama’s health care law.” [NYT]

Kansas tout sovereignty in Planned Parenthood defunding: “The state of Kansas defended a budget provision which defunded a Planned Parenthood chapter as a matter of state sovereignty, arguing in a court document that a proposed injunction would unconstitutionally replace the state’s discretion with the court’s judgment.” [AP]

Chris Van Hollen holding firm against Medicaid cuts: “Walking away from the federal commitment to Medicaid doesn’t solve the problem; it just passes health care costs down to states. Because almost every state, including Maryland, is required by law to balance its budget every year, it means cuts in services and more financial strains for already suffering families, cuts in provider payments, lost jobs in the health care sector, and dampened business activity as the consequences of lost jobs and unmet health care needs ripple through the economy.” [Baltimore Sun]

Louisiana Medicaid privatization: “Louisiana health officials announced Monday that five health plans won bids to manage care for 892,000 low-income Medicaid patients — a first for the state that will be worth an estimated $2.2 billion in new revenues for the companies.” [Kaiser Health News]

Remember the children: “Forty House Democrats signed onto a letter spearheaded by Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) urging leaders of both parties to hold children harmless in any deal to raise the debt ceiling, including cuts to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.” [The Hill]

Mammogram confusion: “The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its recommendations last week, saying that women at average risk for breast cancer should be offered a mammogram every year, starting at age 40. The group previously advised women to get the test every one to two years in their 40s and then annually starting at age 50.” [WSJ]