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Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.) is renewing his push to repeal an ObamaCare tax on insurance companies that he says “drives up costs” across the board. Boustany is joining Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) on a bill to repeal the Health Insurance Tax, which he said hurts individuals and businesses by increasing premiums and out-of-pocket costs. ... The tax is an important revenue source for the Affordable Care Act, amounting to $8 billion in 2014 and rising to $14.3 billion by 2018, though the Congressional Budget Office has warned it would be “largely passed through to consumers in the form of higher premiums.” (Ferris, 2/12)

Clinton, the presumed 2016 Democratic presidential frontrunner, is calling on Congress to extend the Children's Health Insurance Program's (CHIP) funding for the next four years, labeling the approximately $10 billion expense "an investment in our children that will pay off for decades to come." Senate Democrats have launched their own push to reauthorize the program, signing on as co-sponsors of a bill that would extend funding through 2019. Currently, the program's funding runs out at the end of September. A companion bill was also introduced in the House on Thursday. (Byrnes 2/12)

Should drug makers that break the law be required to pay an extra penalty that would be used to fund the National Institutes of Health? Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma.) believes this idea would not only provide needed money for medical research, but would help persuade drug makers to curtail bad behavior. Last month she introduced a bill, the Medical Innovation Act, that she has described as the equivalent of a swear jar. (Silverman, 2/12)