Late News: Sebelius appeals to Wisconsin governor to expand Medicaid

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urged Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Friday to reverse course and accept $10 billion in federal funds to help expand the state's Medicaid program. Sebelius said the money would pay for costs that are currently being absorbed by taxpayers and community hospitals. Sebelius visited a Milwaukee clinic, part of a two-state swing that included a stop in Detroit a few hours earlier. In both cities, she talked to people who already signed up for healthcare through the online federal marketplace or were in the process. Her Wisconsin visit came a day after Walker, a Republican who opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, called a special legislative session to extend the deadline to April for moving 77,000 Wisconsin residents off Medicaid until April.

Testifying before a House subcommittee, Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said the FTC's staff spends most of its energy scrutinizing healthcare and technology companies. “In an effort to be most effective with limited resources, we pay particular attention to the sectors where our action will provide the greatest benefit to the largest number of consumers,” Ramirez told the Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law Subcommittee. The statement might come as little surprise to pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, which this year watched the FTC pursue cases in their sectors all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court—and win.

The Congressional Budget Office has some ideas about tweaking federal healthcare programs to cut the deficit: Cap Medicaid spending, raise the Medicare eligibility age and bundle Medicare provider payments. The CBO included the proposals in a 316-page document issued as a joint House and Senate budget conference committee resumed deliberations on fiscal issues with the goal of reaching a broader agreement on spending and taxes to avoid another government shutdown and threat of debt default.