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An unprecedented House lawsuit against President Obama that was once derided as a certain loser looks stronger now and may soon deliver an early legal round to Republican lawmakers complaining of executive branch overreach. A federal judge is expected to decide shortly whether to dismiss the suit, but thanks to an amended complaint and a recent Supreme Court ruling, the Republican-backed case has a much better chance of proceeding, attorneys agree. At issue is whether the House may sue in court to defend its constitutionally granted "power of the purse" if the president spends money that was not appropriated by Congress. The lawsuit alleges that Obama's top aides quietly claimed the power to spend $178 billion over the next decade to reimburse health insurers for covering the cost of co-payments for low-income people who buy subsidized insurance under the Affordable Care Act. (Savage, 8/20)

Republican efforts to use reconciliation to repeal parts of the health care law may be limited by requirements built into the budgetary maneuver that could block scrapping such high-profile targets as the law’s requirement that most individuals buy health coverage or pay a penalty. The so-called Byrd rule – named for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. – will largely determine whether or not a health law provision can be repealed through reconciliation with a simple majority. If any senator raises a point of order that a provision violates its complex requirements, it would take 60 votes to overcome the objection. (Attias, 8/19)

One part of the president's Affordable Care Act could become a key point of debate during UAW negotiations. Beginning in 2018, any individual health insurance plan costing more than $10,200 annually or any family plan costing more than $27,500, will be subject to a 40% tax on the amount over those thresholds. (Gardner, 8/19)

Within days after draft congressional spending bills for 2016 proposed eliminating funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), dozens of health care organizations raced to the agency’s defense. ... Critics, however, say the agency duplicates work by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which carries out comparative effectiveness research. ... AHRQ Director Richard Kronick, PhD, sat down with JAMA to talk about the agency’s work and its relationship with other federal health research entities. (Berkwits, 8/19)