Even with their feet to the fire and a hard deadline looming, the Supercommittee -- formally known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction -- has managed to not get the job done.

Come midnight, the 12 legislators will have missed their deadline to come with $1.2 trillion in budget cuts, triggering an automatic $1.2 trillion in cuts over the next decade -- unless, of course, Congress decides to change the rules. Again.

Frances Correa/Elsevier Global Medical News  HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she's confident the health law, and the individual mandate, will survive scrutiny from the high  court.

While doctors had hoped that a fix to the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate formula would be included in the Supercommittee's plan (um, not so much), they're now looking to a bill sponsored by Rep. Allyson Schwartz as potential solution.

For more details on that -- and more on Affordable Care Act challenges to be heard by the Supreme Court -- listen to this week's Policy & Practice Podcast. 

-- Frances Correa (FMCReporting)

11/21/11  

Links:

Download Podcast / Listen on Mobile Devices