Democrats on the debt panel have offered a revised deficit-reduction plan that would reduce the federal deficit by $2.3 trillion over 10 years by cutting $400 billion from Medicare and Medicaid. The plan would cut government spending by $1 trillion and raise $1 trillion in tax revenues. Republicans countered the Democrats' plan with their own revised proposal. The plan would reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years by increasing tax revenue by $300 billion and raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67.

The Supreme Court on Monday announced that it will review the legal challenges against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in early spring 2012. Four lawsuits challenging the law were presented to the justices, but the court selected only the multistate lawsuit filed by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business. The Supreme Court also announced it has accepted HHS' petition to review the overhaul. It is expected that justices will allow about five and a half hours for oral arguments in the case. The court will also review whether the suit is barred by the Anti-Injunction Act, which prohibits the court from hearing a suit until the plaintiffs can prove harm. In this case, the challenge to the Affordable Care Act could not be heard until 2014 when the individual mandate, and, subsequently, the penalty for not obtaining health insurance, takes effect.

The National Institutes of Health recently released the 2011 NIH Sleep Disorders Research Plan. The plan identifies research opportunities to be pursued over the next three to five years in order to spur new approaches to the prevention and treatment of sleep disorders. The new plan expands upon previous and current research programs identified in the 1996 and 2003 plans.

Debt panel negotiations appeared to have stalled as Democrats and Republicans could not agree on entitlement cuts and revenue increases as part of a deficit-reduction proposal. Democrats continue to press for more revenue through tax increases while Republicans seek cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs. Both Democrats and Republicans have submitted separate proposals to the Congressional Budget Office for scoring, suggesting the two sides remain deeply divided over the issues. Currently, the panel has no further meetings scheduled before its Thanksgiving deadline for releasing a budget plan.

CMS recently launched an effort to revalidate the enrollment of every provider and supplier by March 23, 2013 pursuant to the program integrity screening provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). CMS recently decided to extend the revalidation effort by two years. CMS also announced numerous, significant improvements to the online Medicare Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership (PECOS) system that should make revalidation less onerous for physicians. These improvements to PECOS will be implemented before most physicians are asked to revalidate

The U. S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 674 by a vote of 405-16 that prevents a planned 3% tax-withhold for many Medicare payments. The statute, originally passed in 2006 and delayed several times, called for all federal, state, and local government payments to those providing services or goods to have 3% of the payment withheld until the following tax year in an effort to increase tax compliance. However, the original statute was overly broad and would have applied even to Medicare payments made to physicians. The bill goes on to the Senate where a similar proposal fell three votes short of the needed 60 last week.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to discuss whether it will review any of the lawsuits against the federal health reform law during a private conference on November 10. Four lawsuits are pending before the court, including the multistate lawsuit in which 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business are plaintiffs. The high court must decide on which issues it wants to rule. It might decide to consider only challenges to the individual mandate or combine issues from several different cases. Should the court decide to review the reform law, oral arguments likely would be scheduled for early spring 2012, with a decision by the end of June.

Democrats offered a proposal that would reduce the deficit by almost $3 trillion over 10 years through a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases, including $500 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Republicans presented a $2.2 trillion proposal that would increase Medicare premiums by $200 billion and cut $585 billion from health programs. The proposal would cut $300 billion from Medicare, $185 billion from Medicaid and $100 billion from other health-related programs. The proposals were reviewed in a public hearing on November 1st.

Earlier this month, a bipartisan letter signed by 113 members of the U.S. House of Representatives was sent to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (or “super committee”) urging it to include repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula in its final deficit reduction legislation. The letter highlighted that further short-term patches to the SGR would “continue to distort the picture of our nation’s fiscal status” and increase the cost of a permanent solution. It urged the committee to repeal the SGR and replace it with “a payment system that promotes efficiency, quality and value and ensures access to medical services for Medicare beneficiaries.”