It's becoming increasingly obvious that not only wholesale Republican opposition, but Democratic divisions, are risking the enactment of health reform legislation this year. Some of those divisions are rooted in relatively narrow objections this or that bill--e.g., jurisdictional squabbles between committees or between House and Senate approaches--or this or that provision--e.g., union opposition to taxation of high-end employer-sponsored health benefits. But the bigger division which falls roughly along ideological lines involves "moderate" Democrats (sometimes, as in last week's Senate "gang of six," working with like-minded Republicans) who seem to prefer delaying action on health reform to enactment of anything that vastly increases federal budget deficits, fails to reduce health care inflation, or exposes Democrats to conservative attacks on "big government."
Showing posts with label health care reform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care reform. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Healthcare reform: More raw deal than New Deal
From Salon...
We need universal, citizen-based healthcare. It doesn't look like Obama and Congress are ready to give it to us.
Health Care for Dummies
From the Washington Post...
"We need to bring new language to this debate," Republican message man Alex Castellanos wrote in a memo to fellow GOP strategists this month. "If we paint the house the same color, no one will notice anything has changed: We will still be the same, outdated Republicans who have no new ideas and oppose everything."Castellanos, a consultant to the Republican National Committee, offered poll-tested language that the party could use to kill President Obama's health-care legislation in Congress. "If we slow this sausage-making process down, we can defeat it," he reasoned.
Health Timeline on Life Support
From Roll Call...
With prospects slipping for Senate action on health care this month, House Democrats are lowering expectations that they will move their own version of a sweeping overhaul before taking off for a monthlong August recess.
Obama takes healthcare debate and runs with it
From the L.A. Times...
The president becomes more involved in rallying the public and Congress behind a healthcare overhaul. Like in a campaign, he will take his case to the American people.
Gibbs Says White House Wants Pre-Recess Action on Health Bills
From Roll Call...
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs reiterated that President Barack Obama wants initial bills passed in the House and the Senate by the August recess, but without the type of insistence White House officials have used in earlier statements.
Monday, July 20, 2009
N.C. high-risk pool an option for many seeking health insurance
From the Star News...
Even as Washington lawmakers attempt to overhaul the nation’s health care system to make insurance attainable for more people, a new state program to cover those considered high risk has been quietly growing its rolls since starting in January.
William Kristol | Kennedy: Let’s Ration Health Care
From the Washington Examiner...
Newsweek Managing Editor Daniel Klaidman explains that his magazine decided to ask Sen. Ted Kennedy to author a cover piece on health care, because “his absence during this historic debate had been so palpable, yet here was a way for this respected voice on health care to weigh in and be part of the national conversation at a critical moment.”
Well, Sen. Kennedy has weighed in, and he may have helped doom Obamacare.
Obamacare: The fast and the furious
From the Washington Examiner...
The health care testimony of the director of the Congressional Budget Office sounded almost desperate.
There was poor Douglas Elmendorf — Larry Summers’ protegé, Brookings Institution liberal, Pelosi-picked, Harvard mega-wonk — practically begging his bosses in Congress to just slow down a little.
President Is Set to 'Take the Baton'
From the Washington Post...
As Skepticism on Health Reform Mounts, He Will Intensify His Efforts
Six months into his presidency, Barack Obama may have no greater test of his ability to translate personal popularity into a successful legislative agenda than the upcoming two weeks.
Insurers add voices to a noisy health care debate
From Politico...
Read moreFor months, the question on Capitol Hill has been: What will the insurance companies do?
Health care advocates still smarting over the industry’s “Harry and Louise” ads against reform in the 1990s have worried what the insurers will do this time. So far, the industry has stayed at the bargaining table and held its fire in the ad wars.
But now, the industry is speaking up, not with an attack but with a seven-figure, national cable TV ad buy starting Monday in favor of affordable bipartisan health reform that can cover everyone. But make no mistake: The ads are sending a strong don’t-tread-on-us message, not so much a shot across the bow of reform as a reminder of the industry’s ability to weigh in at any time, with messages pro or con.
With Health Reform, Waxman Takes On Another Tall Order
From the Washington Post...
For his first feat this legislative session, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) staged a coup and deposed a sitting chairman and dean of the House. He followed that up with a nail-biter victory in the House for his beloved climate change bill.But on Monday, the hard work will begin for the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee as he labors to advance President Obama's endangered health-reform agenda.
What's Up, Docs?
From the Wall Street Journal...
The AMA signs its members up to be civil servants.Everyone supports "health reform" as an abstract goal, but that mile-wide consensus is an inch deep when it comes to substance. Increasingly, however, most of the major health industry lobbies seem prepared to concede the mile -- as long they get their inch.
The latest example is the American Medical Association's unqualified endorsement Thursday of the health bill patched together by House Democrats. In a letter to Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel, the doctors group lays on its "appreciation and support" pretty thick, and pledges to "work with the House committees and leadership to build support." The so-called tri-committee plan is also the most left-leaning out there, funding its new coverage for the uninsured in part by cutting payments to doctors and hospitals in Medicare and Medicaid.
The reality of rationing
From the L.A. Times...
There are limits on care now, and no reform will change that. But that's not an excuse to do nothing.Opponents of the main Democratic proposals for healthcare reform warn that consumers would be stopped from getting the care they need when they need it. President Obama's plan is "rationing," one political strategist blogged. It's an unrealistic criticism, yet policymakers shouldn't sugarcoat reality: Rationing is part of the healthcare system today, as it will be under any overhaul fashioned by Washington. That's no argument for sticking with the current approach, however. Without significant improvements in the way healthcare is delivered and paid for, the escalating costs will cut off more people from the care they need.
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