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Morning CheckUp: July 29, 2011

Vote delayed on Boehner plan: “House Republican leaders will try to regroup Friday after being forced to pull the plug on a vote to raise the debt limit and trim deficits when a core of conservative members refused to back the plan, with some of them demanding fundamental changes in its approach.” Some conservative members wish to include “a stricter requirement for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution” and the House will hold votes “on two different versions of a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution” today. [CQ]

High risk pools causing people to stay uninsured: “HuffPost first reported on this phenomenon in February, when an Arizona couple canceled their expensive health insurance policy so they could wait six months for the government’s more affordable deal. They said their monthly premiums had jumped from $1,700 to nearly $2,500 in just one year and that they couldn’t keep up.” [Arthur Delaney]

Building support for Part D rebates: “Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and and Pete Stark (D-CA) on Thursday (July 28) issued a Dear Colleague letter in an effort to garner more support for their legislation that would expand Medicaid rebates into the Medicare Part D low-income subsidy program, and cut the deficit by $120 billion.” [Amy Lotven]

No new grandfather regs: “CMS Center Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight Director Steve Larsen appeared to signal Thursday that it is unlikely there will be additional guidance relating to the health reform law’s grandfathering of health plans, telling lawmakers he could not speak to whether there would be new guidance.” [Rachana Dixit]

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HHS to fix subsidy glitch: “Federal regulators plan to soon address a glitch in the healthcare law’s subsidies that could stick families with high health insurance costs, insurance reform chief Steve Larsen testified Thursday during a hearing on the law’s impact on small-business coverage.” [The Hill]

Kansas PP defunding part of national trend: “A law stripping the Kansas Planned Parenthood chapter of its funding is part of a national campaign to cut off the entity’s federal family planning money because of its advocacy of abortion rights, lawyers for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri argued in a court filing.” [AP]

Court upholds bubble law: “A federal appeals court upheld Oakland’s so-called “bubble” law prohibiting protestors from coming within eight feet of abortion clinics or anyone entering abortion clinics…The court said the city erred when it let supporters offer words of encouragement to women entering a clinic but banned opponents trying to dissuade patients from having abortions.” [KSBW]

Senators question advertising-obesity connection: “Nineteen senators from rural states demanded Thursday that federal agencies justify their call for stringent voluntary restrictions on marketing food marketing to children.” [The Hill]

Convenient health: “House calls, workplace clinics and free-standing emergency rooms. And, most of the time, insurers will cover the visit.” [Kaiser Health News]