First Edition: September 13, 2010

Sep 13 2010

In this morning's news, many in Congress are pushing for repeal of a tax provision in the health law that critics say places a heavy burden on small businesses. Meanwhile, opponents of the overhaul are focused on a Florida court hearing.

Medical Students Facing A New Reality
In a collection of interviews for Kaiser Health News, Allison Fero writes: "One of the groups most affected by the changes in the new health law are medical school students. When they graduate - and complete the hospital residencies that follow - they will begin practice under a system that will be significantly different than when they began college. With millions more people expected to have health insurance, demand for primary care physicians is expected to go way up" (Kaiser Health News). 

KHN Column - The Prevention And Public Health Fund: Good For Our Health, Good For Small Business
In this Kaiser Health News column, Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, and Larry Cohen, founder and executive director of Prevention Institute, offer their perspective on a legislative question: "As Congress returns to work this week, senators are scheduled to cast a critical vote on Tuesday as part of a broad measure designed to encourage economic growth for small businesses. But in this case, the outcome could end up hurting small business, costing us billions in crucial prevention dollars and jeopardizing efforts to improve and protect the health of millions of Americans" (Kaiser Health News).

Many Push For Repeal Of Tax Provision In Health Law
Many Democrats have joined Republicans in pushing for the repeal of a tax provision in the new health care law that imposes a huge information-reporting burden on small businesses (The New York Times). 

Almost Here: Your New Health Care Benefits
Sept. 23 marks the six-month anniversary of the new health overhaul law. It's also the day several key provisions of the law take effect. NPR's Julie Rovner explains what they are to host Liane Hansen (NPR).

David Axelrod: Reform Will Get More Popular
White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he thinks voters will eventually warm to health care reform (Politico).

Fact Check: White House Health Savings Challenged
When a government report found that President Barack Obama's health overhaul would modestly raise the nation's total health care tab, the White House responded with a statistic suggesting costs would go down (The Associated Press).

States Opposed To Healthcare Overhaul Pin Hopes On Florida Court Hearing
The conservative counterattack on President Obama's overhaul of health insurance will take center stage in the courts this week when Republican state attorneys general and a leading small-business group urge a federal judge in Florida to strike down the law before it can take effect (Los Angeles Times).

Conservative Duo Tests Health Law
Whether President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul survives could depend on a yin-and-yang pair of conservative Washington, D.C., power lawyers who sued to stop it mere hours after the bill became law in March (The Wall Street Journal).

Anti-AARP Group Set For Launch
Social Security Institute president Larry Hunter, a longtime Republican adviser, will launch the for-profit Alliance for Retirement Prosperity on Wednesday, a $5-million conservative challenge to the AARP. Where the non-partisan, nonprofit AARP has sided with the Obama administration on many issues - most recently and prominently, ardently supporting the health reform law - the Alliance will actively lobby for the health law's repeal (Politico).

Community Clinics Widen Reach
As the national health overhaul rolls out, the experiences of [the Whittier Street Health Center in Roxbury] and other neighborhood health centers in Massachusetts could prove instructive. The state's federally funded health centers treated nearly 40,000 additional patients in 2007, the year after Massachusetts became the first state to place insurance cards in the hands of most of its residents. Many observers expect a similar surge under the federal health care law (The Boston Globe).

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