Health Reform in the House | Fact of the Day H.R. 3962 provides funding to support training programs for general, pediatric, and public health dentists and dental hygienists, and for faculty loan repayments. | | Follow Health Insurance Reform
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At The Time This Daily Dose Was Sent, Insured Americans Had Paid a “Hidden Tax” of $40,850,089,686 This Year In Additional Premium Costs To Cover Care For The Uninsured. Under the Microscope THE MEDICARE BUY-IN OPTION The Senate has put on the table a Medicare buy-in coverage option: those without current coverage 55-64 years of age would be allowed to buy Medicare coverage at a cost of several hundred dollars a month. The Senate is still waiting for thorough analyses by the Congressional Budget Office regarding this option. Below are resources that may shed more light on what this policy would look like and its implications. Implications of a Medicare Buy-in
(Kaiser Family Foundation, 12/10/2009)
Summary of Recent Public Opinion on Medicare Expansion
(Kaiser Family Foundation, 12/2009)
A List of Resources Related to the Medicare Buy-in Option
(Commonwealth Fund, 12/10/2009)
Physicians’ Views On Medicare Expansion (additional slide)
(New England Journal of Medicine, 9/14/2009)
Proposals to Provide Affordable Coverage to All Americans
(Senate Finance Committee, 5/14/2009)
Why Older Americans Need Health Reform
(Center for American Progress, 12/10/2009)
Health Care Headlines Senate Dems May Change Health Care Compromise
Senate Democrats are considering changing a proposed expansion of Medicare to address complaints from doctors and hospitals and defray costs for consumers, officials said Thursday, two days after party leaders hailed it as part of a breakthrough for health care. [Washington Post, 12/11/2009] Health Care Bill Idles as Reid Awaits CBO Score
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) race to pass a health care bill by Christmas is on hold while the Congressional Budget Office analyzes a compromise proposal that could break an impasse among Democrats over the public insurance option.
[Roll Call, 12/10/2009] Pelosi Indicates Support for Senate's Medicare Deal
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed support Thursday for a Senate Democratic proposal to expand Medicare, raising prospects that the two chambers of Congress can work out differences on health-care legislation. [Wall Street Journal, 12/11/2009] Senate Tied in Knots Over Proposal to Allow Imported Drugs
Debating an overhaul of the health care system, the Senate found itself tied in knots on Thursday over a bipartisan proposal to allow people to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada and certain other countries. [New York Times, 12/11/2009] Health Care Debate: Hope and Skepticism on the Front Lines
The men and women at the front lines of the national health care debate — who run hospitals, nursing homes, community health care centers and private practices — say they are hopeful, but wary, about the changes that might follow if Congress passes legislation to overhaul the health care system. [USA Today, 12/11/2009] OPINION: Health-Care Help from the Rookies
By David S. Broder
Finally, there is some good news on the health-care front. The headlines went to a possible compromise on the contentious issue of the public option, but the greater victory may lie in less-publicized Senate action that might actually cut the costs of our impossibly expensive health-care system. [Washington Post, 12/11/2009] OPINION: Testing, Testing
By Atul Gawande
Cost is the spectre haunting health reform. For many decades, the great flaw in the American health-care system was its unconscionable gaps in coverage. Those gaps have widened to become graves—resulting in an estimated forty-five thousand premature deaths each year—and have forced more than a million people into bankruptcy. [New Yorker, 12/14/2009] | 