Health Reform in the House | Fact of the Day In H.R. 3962 the behavior of health insurance companies between now and the time the new Exchange marketplace starts up, will be a determining factor in whether they will be allowed to participate in the Exchange. This is to serve as a deterrent for rapid consumer price increases. | | Follow Health Insurance Reform
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At the Time This Daily Dose Was Sent, Insured Americans Had Paid a “Hidden Tax” of $44,179,853,891 since January 1, 2009 in Additional Premium Costs to Cover Care for the Uninsured. Under the Microscope HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM WILL CREATE JOBS An analysis of two studies released today shows that health insurance reform would increase the number of jobs by up to 4 million over the next decade, including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing and nearly 900,000 jobs in services by 2016. Read New Jobs Through Better Health Care
(Center for American Progress & USC, 1/8/2010) Healthcare Overhaul Could Save Money and Boost Jobs, Researchers Say
National healthcare legislation in Congress could slow the growth of medical costs, allowing employers to create 250,000 to 400,000 new jobs a year over the next decade, economists from Harvard University and USC are predicting.
[L.A. Times, 1/8/2010]
Health Care Headlines House Democrats Confer On Health-Care Reform
Worried House Democrats held a caucus-wide conference call Thursday to strategize about health-care reform before lawmakers return to Washington next week.
[Washington Post, 1/8/2010] Pelosi Vows To Defend House Healthcare Bill
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday told her caucus she would not let the House be forced into signing off on the Senate’s healthcare bill. [The Hill, 1/7/2010] Battle Over 'Exchanges' Regulator
Health insurers are girding for a fight over who should regulate the new marketplaces that would sell policies to 30 million Americans under the health-care bills pending in Congress. [Wall Street Journal, 1/8/2010] Talking Taxes: Unions, Obama To Discuss Taxing Health Plans
How to pay the bill is among the contentious issues yet to be resolved in the health debate.
[Wall Street Journal, 1/7/2010] Advocacy Groups Raise Concerns On Health Bill
Advocacy groups lobbied President Barack Obama and Congress on Thursday, trying to eliminate what they called a "loophole" in Senate health care legislation they said could allow insurers to raise rates on customers based on their weight or blood sugar levels. [Washington Post, 1/7/2010] Nelson Says He Wants Medicaid Deal For All States
Sen. Ben Nelson said Thursday he has asked Democratic leadership to extend to all states the extra Medicaid funding promised to Nebraska in the health care reform bill. [Associated Press, 1/7/2010] Admin Enlists Dem Govs On Health
One day after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, delivered a stinging attack on federal health care reform, Obama administration officials huddled with his Democratic counterparts to address their complaints about the legislation — and enlist them in the public campaign to support it. [Politico, 1/7/2010] Ignani Makes Low-Key Case For Shifting Premium Tax Burden
Eschewing weapons such as high-impact ads and slashing rhetoric, the head of the nation’s most powerful insurance lobby quietly began making the case Thursday for shifting the timetable for some $70 billion in premium taxes that would be imposed on her member companies by Senate health care overhaul legislation — and implicitly for reducing those taxes on insurers as well. [CQ HealthBeat, 1/7/2010] | 