Health law supporters brace for future attacks, wonder whether overhaul will be part of the SOTU address

Jan 21 2012

Those who consider the health law one of President Barack Obama's leading domestic achievements look to see whether he will include it in his Tuesday night speech. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius predicts continued criticism and "misinformation" about the health law while House Republicans celebrated the one-year anniversary of their vote to repeal it.

Modern Healthcare: Will Health Reform Make It Into The State of the Union?
An important question for many supporters of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is whether President Barack Obama will mention, and to what extent, the law during Tuesday's State of the Union address. The measure is widely considered his leading domestic policy achievement, but news reports have noted the president rarely mentions it when speaking to the public. However, Obama regularly highlights its passage when addressing supporters (Daly, 1/19).

Modern Healthcare: Sebelius Foresees More Attacks On Reform Law
Knowing her audience, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius marshaled support for the healthcare reform law and told attendees at the annual Families USA conference they can expect more criticism of the law in the year ahead. "I believe that over the next few months we'll see the biggest barrage of attacks and misinformation about the law that we've ever seen," Sebelius said Thursday morning to the organization of healthcare consumers gathered in Washington (Zigmond, 1/19).

Politico Pro: At Event, Reform Supporters Show Anxiety
At a conference of some of health care reform's most committed supporters Thursday, there was a sense of anxiety behind all of the upbeat speeches and breakout panels on how to push reform across the finish line. "Apprehensive, I think that's the word," said Stuart Altman, one of the morning speakers at the Families USA conference and a former Nixon administration health policy official who helped craft a plan for universal health insurance. "That's what my world is feeling." Despite considerable federal and state progress toward implementing the reform law, the past year has been more notable for the increasingly menacing threats to it (Norman, 1/20).

The Hill: GOP Marks Anniversary Of Vote To Repeal Health Care Law
House Republicans on Thursday celebrated the anniversary of their vote to repeal healthcare reform, as well as their piecemeal successes in rolling back certain policies. The House's vote last year to repeal the healthcare law was mostly for show, but the GOP has scored a few smaller victories since. House Ways and Means Committee Republicans noted Thursday that President Obama has signed bills axing two provisions of the healthcare reform law: a tax reporting requirement that was seen as too burdensome for small businesses, and a "glitch" that would have made middle-income people eligible for Medicaid (Baker, 1/19).