HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to vote on a bill Thursday that would prevent taxpayers from deducting the cost of an abortion from their taxable income. It would also prevent small businesses and taxpayers from using tax credits in the new health care law to provide or pay for insurance policies that cover the procedure.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Senate inched closer to a repeal of a much-maligned 1099 tax-reporting provision on Tuesday evening, with a potential agreement that could send the bill straight to President Obama's desk. The chamber could vote Wednesday morning on an amendment from Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., on the small-business bill currently on the Senate floor.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: This could be the week the federal government releases delayed regulations for a major piece of the health care law, which aims to bring down health costs by grouping together doctors, nurses, nursing homes and other providers and holding them accountable for the health of their patients.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The U.S. Justice Department is widening a probe into whether Blue Cross Blue Shield health-insurance plans are artificially raising premiums in several states by striking agreements with hospitals that stifle competition from rival insurers.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Speaking at a meeting of the America's Health Insurance Plans association on Thursday, Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, told representatives of companies providing coverage through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program that they should encourage healthy lifestyles by offering "concrete incentives to participate in wellness and prevention activities".

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Health insurance companies are at least partly to blame for the lack of an increase in public support for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the year since its enactment, according to a vocal Democratic defender of the law. Rep. Anthony Weiner told liberal activists at the Center for American Progress Wednesday that the law has not gained in popularity since its enactment, in part, because some of its supporters are "hiding under the desk" in the face of Republican criticisms.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A law signed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard on Tuesday makes the state the first to require women who are seeking abortions to first attend a consultation at such "pregnancy help centers," to learn what assistance is available "to help the mother keep and care for her child."

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Anthem Blue Cross, the largest health plan in California, said Monday it will delay and reduce rate hikes that would have hit some 600,000 policyholders at an estimated cost of $40 million. Anthem is one of four major health insurers in the state who earlier agreed to put off premium increases for at least 60 days at the request of California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: President Obama's health-care overhaul law will be repealed by early 2013, according to Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich. Gingrich, speaking Friday at the National Press Club said, even if Republicans can't repeal the law before 2014, the point at which the law becomes fully implemented, the former Speaker of the House said Republican leadership will be able to defund it.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration next week will embark on a fresh pitch for the health-care overhaul, seeking to boost public support for the law on its one-year anniversary. But lawmakers and some policy experts say the next phase of the overhaul will be more difficult to sell. Between now and the 2012 presidential election, few consumer-oriented changes kick in.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Angry ratepayers found some relief Wednesday when Blue Shield of California dropped its plan to further raise insurance rates on hundreds of thousands of its customers in 2011. Hikes that average 6.5 percent were set to go into effect in May and would have been the third since October levied by the San Francisco-based health insurer.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Some Democrats say their party should embrace the law in the upcoming campaign season, just as some tea party lawmakers are questioning the GOP leadership's commitment to repeal it. In the background, "death panels" have again emerged as a topic of congressional investigation.

HCR from Mark Sanna: Expect the talk in Washington about the federal health care law to intensify as we approach the one-year anniversary of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act next week. Congress is holding several hearings, including the Senate Finance Committee meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss "Health Reform: Lessons Learned During the First Year."

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Exceptions may become the rule as the Affordable Care Act heads into its second year. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services have approved no fewer than 1,040 requests for so-called mini-med waivers, which would allow companies to cap their annual payouts at a lower level than dictated by the law.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: House lawmakers are stepping up their pressure on the Senate to complete work this week on a repeal of the 1099 provision included in the health care law despite a dispute over how the $22 billion cost is covered. The House-passed measure now appears to have Democratic leadership support in the upper chamber, could be sent to President Obama this week.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration has asked a Florida court to hurry up and decide on its appeal of an order that declared the health care law unconstitutional. The Justice Department filed a motion in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for an expedited review of the administration's appeal, filed on Tuesday.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration Tuesday appealed Florida Judge Roger Vinson's ruling that the entire health reform law is unconstitutional. The quick action of the government prevents the judge’s order from taking effect and shutting down implementation of the law for now.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A background memo from House Energy and Commerce Republicans in preparation for a Wednesday hearing outlines alternatives for eliminating mandatory funding included in the health care law. The items the GOP would eliminate include mandatory funds states would use for activities related to setting up exchanges, a prevention and public health fund, and school-based health centers. The memo also proposes that lawmakers consider changing mandatory funding for a "personal responsibility education" program for teens and for primary care residency programs in teaching health centers so that the funding is considered instead through regular appropriations.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Across the U.S., governors are contemplating ways to ease the fiscal pressure Medicaid has placed on their state budgets. The approaches currently on the table include freezing the enrollment of childless adults, transforming Medicaid into a block grant program and convincing Congress to give states more flexibility to administer the program.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: As Congress continues to debate the new health care law, health insurance costs are still rising, particularly for small businesses. Across the country, premiums have more than doubled in the last decade, with smaller companies particularly hard hit in recent years, federal officials say. Republicans are seizing on the trend as evidence that the new law includes expensive features that are driving up premiums. But the insurance industry says premiums are rising primarily because of the underlying cost of care and a growing demand for it.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A long-term spending bill pitched by the Senate will not include language to strip federal funds from Planned Parenthood and implementation of the healthcare reform law, according to new highlights released by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday afternoon.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A federal judge in Florida issued a stay regarding his own January ruling in which he overturned the health law. However, this breathing room is only temporary - he also put the health law on the fast track to the Supreme Court.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: President Obama on Wednesday intervened in a partisan brawl that threatens to shut down the government, inviting congressional leaders of both parties to sit down with Vice President Biden and work out a compromise to fund federal programs through the end of the fiscal year.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Governors told Congress on Tuesday that President Obama had not gone far enough in proposing to let states opt out of major provisions of the new health care law in 2014, and they said they needed more immediate relief from the growing financial burden of Medicaid.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: President Obama, who has stood by his landmark health care law through court attacks and legislative efforts to repeal it, told the nation's governors on Monday that he was willing to amend the measure to give states the ability to opt out of its most controversial requirements right from the start, including the mandate that most people buy insurance.