HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Governors of both parties have proposed cuts in healthcare, one of the largest single expenses for states, as they struggle to balance their budgets. Many, including some Democrats, want the Obama administration to loosen a requirement in the new healthcare law that prevents them from dropping large numbers of low-income people from Medicaid. About 53 million poor children and adults are covered by the program, which is funded jointly by the state and federal governments.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The temporary budget compromise proposed this week would not defund the new health law. In the ongoing saga of whether Congress and the president will avert a government shutdown, the potential solution does not include GOP language taking away funds for health law implementation or Planned Parenthood.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The nation's governors will be in Washington this weekend for the National Governors Association winter meeting. Budget issues, especially related to Medicaid spending and other health costs, will be a hot topic. Already, the administration is seeking to sooth state executives' nerves regarding the costs of implementing the health care law by reiterating a message of flexibility.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: With the nation's governors about to descend on Washington for their winter meeting, the Department of Health and Human Services today continued its campaign to calm their concerns that the health law is too expensive and complex for cash-strapped states to implement.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Taking a position that the Obama administration's request for "clarification" from U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson regarding his recent ruling on the 26-state challenge to the health law's individual mandate is "wishful thinking," the involved states maintain that the judge's meaning was clear: he meant to stop work on the law's rollout.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A federal judge in Washington, D.C., became the third judge to uphold the constitutionality of the health overhaul's individual mandate. The decision was issued Tuesday evening.

Update from Mark Sanna: One of Senator Edward Kennedy’s legacies in the new health care law, intended to allow the chronically ill and people with disabilities to continue living in their homes, is too costly to survive without major changes, Obama administration officials now say. Republican lawmakers, who have vowed to repeal the health care law, cite the administration’s acknowledgment as yet another reason to do so.

Update from Mark Sanna: On Friday, HHS overturned the controversial Bush 'conscience' regulation for health-care workers. The rule was widely interpreted as shielding workers who refuse to participate in a range of medical services, such as providing birth control pills, caring for gay men with AIDS and performing in-vitro fertilization for lesbians or single women. Friday's decision was condemned by proponents of stronger protections, who say doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other workers regularly face discrimination, firing and other punitive measures because of their deeply held convictions.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The House approved a Republican proposal to block federal aid for Planned Parenthood. The 240-185 vote was a victory for anti-abortion forces led by Indiana GOP Rep. Mike Pence. He says taxpayer money should not go to groups that provide or promote abortion. Democrats say Planned Parenthood provides contraception and other valuable family planning services, and that cutting off the money will make it hard for women to get such basic help.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: After a free-wheeling, week-long debate, the House early Saturday morning passed a bill to fund the government through the end of September. It included several amendments to defund the new health law. The bill now goes to the Senate.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Federal authorities on Thursday charged more than 100 doctors, nurses and physical therapists in nine cities with Medicare fraud. In all, dozens of people were accused of illegally billing Medicare more than $225 million. The indictments were for suspects in Miami; Los Angeles; Dallas; Houston; Detroit; Chicago; Brooklyn; Tampa, Fla.; and Baton Rouge, La. Among those charged was Dr. Errol Sherman, a Detroit podiatrist who performed partial toenail removals that the authorities said amounted to little more than clipping toenails. A Brooklyn proctologist, Dr. Boris Sachakov, was charged with billing $6.5 million for hemorrhoid removals, most of which the authorities say he never performed.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration said Wednesday that it had granted broad waivers to four states allowing health insurance companies to continue offering less generous benefits than they would otherwise be required to provide consumers this year under the new federal health care law. The states are Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Rep. Steve King said he's putting GOP leaders on notice that he wants to be taken seriously in his efforts to defund the health care overhaul law. The Iowa Republican voted "present" Tuesday on a rule to proceed to a continuing resolution to keep the government funded for the remainder of fiscal 2011 because it did not include his amendment to halt funding for the health care law.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Critics quickly pounced on President Barack Obama’s proposal to head off scheduled cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, saying his funding method would cause serious problems. Some analysts predicted the payment fix would get little traction on Capitol Hill as lawmakers focus on the broader problem of finding ways to cut the budget and reduce the deficit.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: President Obama faces two major challenges when he unveils his health budget today: showing that he's serious about fiscal discipline while making sure implementation of his health care reform law has a clear path. His health budget will receive extra scrutiny this year given that his fiscal commission called health care spending the nation's "single largest fiscal challenge" and Republicans are angling to defund the law. But Obama's budget likely won't provide too many surprises because the reform law has already done a lot of the heavy lifting on spending cuts, lobbyist sources said on Friday. The Affordable Care Act slows the growth of Medicare spending by about $500 billion over 10 years.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama blueprint seeks to eliminate a budget gimmick that Congress has long used to mask the true depth of the red ink: His proposal would offset higher Medicare payments to doctors by cutting $62 billion from other areas of federal health spending.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The spending bill, put forward by the Appropriations Committee for consideration on the floor next week, proposes slashing a wide portfolio of domestic programs and foreign aid. It blocks the spending of about $2 billion in unused economic stimulus money and seeks to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from enforcing the new health care law.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf told the House Budget Committee on Thursday that the health care law will reduce employment by 0.5 percent by 2021 because some people will no longer have to work just to afford health insurance.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: News outlets reported that Virginia's attorney general has asked the Supreme Court to expedite a review of the health law. Meanwhile, House Democrats sent a letter to Justice Clarence Thomas asking him to recuse himself.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A second appellate court has set an expedited schedule for hearing a constitutional challenge to the new health care law. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, announced Tuesday that it would hear oral arguments during a term that stretches from May 30 to June 10. The appeal stems from a decision upholding the law by a federal judge in Detroit. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., has already announced it will hear arguments in mid-May in the Obama administration’s appeal of a Virginia judge’s decision to strike down a central provision of the law.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Supporters of the new health care law have tapped a top Democratic strategist to help defend it against Republican criticism as they settle in for what many expect will be a protracted battle to shape the public's view of the law through the 2012 elections and beyond. … The initiative is being headed by Paul Tewes, a political consultant who directed field operations in key states for President Obama's campaign.

HCR Update by Mark Sanna: Lawmakers and their staffers this week will get an earful about the ailments facing the medical profession as more than 500 members of the American Medical Association arrive in Washington, D.C., for their annual National Advocacy Conference.

HC Reform by Mark Sanna: This week the CEOs of 16 medical device companies descended on Capitol Hill to make the case for their industry. Asking for the repeal of the medical device tax in the health care law and continued improvements to the FDA’s 510(k) regulatory process, they said they worried the booming industry.

HC Reform Update by Mark Sanna: Virginia's attorney general announced on Thursday that he hoped to bypass an initial appellate review by asking the United States Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of the Obama health care law on an expedited basis.

HC Reform Update by Mark Sanna: To hear Senate Republicans tell it, the defeat of their attempt to repeal the Democrats' health care overhaul was really a victory of sorts on the long the march to the 2012 congressional and presidential elections. The repeal effort sank Wednesday along party lines.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: The Senate on Wednesday voted down a repeal of President Obama’s healthcare law in a 47-51 party-line vote. ... Republicans have vowed to carry the fight forward, saying they will seek to de-fund the law as it is implemented. The GOP also has promised Wednesday’s repeal vote will not be the last in this Congress.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: The Senate plans to vote today on legislation to repeal President Obama's health care overhaul, following a deal between Democrats and Republicans to schedule the largely symbolic roll call.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: Top executives from UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc. are meeting almost monthly with their counterparts from Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp. and Humana Inc. in an informal lobbying alliance aimed at blunting parts of the health-care law, say people with knowledge of the sessions.