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President courts fiscal conservatives in reform push

President Obama is moving quickly to head off opposition to major health care legislation from fiscal conservatives in Congress by vowing to follow strict rules for paying for it without further driving up the already huge deficit.

10 Jun 2009

Baucus: 'effectiveness' part of health-care bill, could reduce health xosts

"Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Tuesday he expects Senate health-care legislation will include provisions encouraging doctors to compare drugs and therapies for their effectiveness," Dow Jones Newswires reports.

10 Jun 2009

Long term care forms part of health plan

Long-term care plays a role in the Senate HELP committee health plan released Tuesday by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. The Associated Press reports that "Americans would be able to buy long-term care insurance from the government for $65 a month under a provision tucked into sweeping health care legislation that senators will begin considering next week."

10 Jun 2009

Groups want New Jersey to restore immigrant outreach funds

"Immigrant and health-care advocacy groups" are calling on New Jersey to "restore $1 million in funding that has been eliminated in the latest round of budget tightening," the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

10 Jun 2009

House Democrats unveil bill that would create insurance exchange, public plan

House Democrats on Tuesday released an outline of their proposal to reform the health care system that would require that all Americans have insurance and that employers provide coverage or pay a penalty, The Associated Press reports. The bill also emphasized preventive care but omitted details about how to cover the costs.

10 Jun 2009

Administration's 'pay-as-you-go' plan will overlook health reform, other health spending

President Obama urged Congress to enact into law tough financial rules requiring them to offset any new spending or taxes, but was clear that where health care is concerned, lawmakers should overlook those rules, Bloomberg reports.

10 Jun 2009

Reports from the White House and Kaiser Family Foundation address health care disparities

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House Health Czar Nancy Ann DeParle held a discussion of minority health issues at the White House yesterday, where Sebelius "said the Obama administration is committed to addressing the 'alarming disparity in the delivery of quality health care'," which she said was necessary to lower costs, the Associated Press reports.

10 Jun 2009

High-cost Medicare areas worry about looming cuts

The White House’s pressure to cut soaring healthcare costs is causing action and concern in high cost Medicare areas, especially South Florida.

10 Jun 2009

Kennedy plan skips contentious issues, still angers GOP

The first detailed health reform proposal "got off to a rocky start Tuesday," as "even moderate Republicans" attacked a draft bill by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Democrats from his Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Los Angeles Times reports.

10 Jun 2009

Baucus expects new taxes on worker's benefits to be part of reform

Senators will likely pay for at least a portion of the expected $1 trillion-plus health reform price tag by taxing employer-provided health benefits that are significantly more expensive than the basic plan for federal employees, which costs $13,000 a year for a family, the Washington Post reports.

10 Jun 2009

The personalities making news around health reform

Sen. Chris Dodd has taken the reins on health care reform while he juggles other bills and a tough re-election campaign, Roll Call reports.

10 Jun 2009

Consensus forming among most Democrats on health reform

Democratic leaders have begun moving the rank and file closer to acceptance of basic tenets of health reform proposals, but concerns remain among the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats on how it will be paid for, Politico reports.

10 Jun 2009

Provisions for young, old in Kennedy bill; Senate leaders eye July for bill

Sen. Edward Kennedy's health care reform bill includes provisions to allow elderly people remain in their homes and the young to stay on their parents health insurance until age 26, according to The Associated Press.

10 Jun 2009

Elective surgery in Canberra a waiting game

According to the latest report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) people living in Canberra wait on average 72 days for elective surgery which is more than double the national average of 34 days.

9 Jun 2009

Seniors seek help with Medicare's 'doughnut hole'

Senior and elderly advocate groups are calling on Congress to get rid of the "doughnut hole" in Medicare's drug benefit as part of the larger efforts to reform health care, according to The Dallas Morning News.

9 Jun 2009

Washington's basic health plan raises rates to compensate for budget cuts

Washington state's cash-strapped health insurance program, Basic Health Plan, "is resorting to steep premium increases to achieve what [its officials] were loath to do on their own - expel thousands of working-class people," the Seattle Times reports.

9 Jun 2009

Senate could vote today on tougher tobacco legislation

The Senate could vote today on tougher tobacco laws that would give the Food and Drug Adminstration power to regulate tobacco.

9 Jun 2009

Kennedy's absence felt as health reform push intensifies

Congressional Democrats seeking leadership are feeling Sen. Edward Kennedy's absence in the looming health care reform debate as he continues his battle with brain cancer, and struggles to return to Washington, The New York Times reports.

9 Jun 2009

House health bill to include public plan, insurers resisting

On Monday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D- N.Y., told reporters that the House bill will include a new public insurance plan, Reuters/The Boston Globe reports.

9 Jun 2009

Reform debate circles back to costs, and how to pay for them

In the White House's pitches for health care reform, controlling costs has replaced universal coverage as the leading imperative to overhaul the system. A top White House economist, Christina Romer, said in a public appearance Monday, "Good health care reform is good economic policy," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "Fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve – it's a necessity we cannot postpone any longer" (Abate, 6/9).

9 Jun 2009