Nov 22 2010
What The Secret Donors Want The New York Times
According to tax records unearthed by Bloomberg News, the health insurance lobby secretly gave $86.2 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2009 to try to prevent the health care bill from becoming law. The huge contribution — 40 percent of the chamber's spending for that year — allowed the group to run ads against the bill without tainting the insurance industry, which was negotiating with Democrats on the bill at the same time (11/22).
Obamacare Repeal's Real Aim Is Retiring Obama Bloomberg
The Republicans' real agenda is to continue the drumbeat of criticism until Obama is defeated in 2012 or, what many privately say is a more realistic hope, a Republican-dominated Supreme Court rejects the measure (Albert R. Hunt, 11/21).
Thank Obamacare The Boston Herald
There is no end to the little annoyances associated with Obamacare which are slowly being revealed to the American public like the layers of an onion - a rotten one. Yes, the behemoth bill that was supposed to make everything so simple is in fact making life far more complicated for doctors, patients, insurers and businesses (11/22).
The Roadmap Lives Kaiser Health News
The fundamental elements of the Ryan Roadmap are sweeping tax reform; changes in health care which emphasize a marketplace and consumer choice; and modifications to retirement programs that reflect demographic reality. All of these elements can now be found in budget plans endorsed by prominent Democrats, including Democrats the president himself turned to find solutions to the nation's budget problems (James C. Capretta, 11/22).
'Don't Litigate, Innovate.' How To Implement A Fully Funded Alternative To The New Health Care Overhaul — And It's Already In The Law Kaiser Health News
Is it a pipe dream that any state would take the same amount of federal money that would have been spent there anyway as a result of the health overhaul and instead build its own version of health reform? Maybe not. And the Republicans may be perfectly positioned to put such plans into action (Robert Laszewski, 11/22).
The Doctor Con The Wall Street Journal
In sum, Democrats deceived the AMA about the doc fix and are now deceiving voters about how they'll pay for even this four-week reprieve. And they're dumping the $250 billion bill on Republicans (11/22).
Medicaid Expansion Better Than Costly ER Visits The (Newarkm N.J.) Star Ledger
More low-income women and their families will have access to family planning services under a bill proposed by state Sens. Loretta Weinberg and Paul Sarlo. But first, they have to get the governor on board and de-fang the scaremongers (11/20).
Where Is GOP Plan? The Star Press
What is the Republican plan for funding health care for the poor and the 40 percent of infants born to single mothers? Republicans reject government funding for sex education, family planning and abortion (Sharon Cheslik, 11/22).
Health Reform's Promises Keep Faltering AOL News
The simple fact is that nobody really knows how the new health reform law will work out. You just can't impose an incredibly complex new set of rules on an already incredibly complex health care system and claim to know precisely what will happen to workers, the federal budget, the uninsured — which is one reason big, comprehensive reform bills are always risky (John Merline, 11/20).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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Election outcome could bring big changes to Medicare