Health Reform in the House | Fact of the Day H.R. 3692 requires skilled nursing facilities to conduct dementia management and abuse prevention training to new employees. The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services may require these topics as part of ongoing training if deemed necessary. | | Follow Health Insurance Reform
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At The Time This Daily Dose Was Sent, Insured Americans Had Paid a “Hidden Tax” of $40,374,250,817 This Year In Additional Premium Costs To Cover Care For The Uninsured. Under the Microscope HEALTH REFORM PROVISIONS TO SAVE $683 BILLION
A new report outlines the comprehensive effects that House and Senate health insurance reform bill provisions would have on the U.S. health system, and finds that the cost-containing impacts would be even greater than analyses have shown. Titled, Starting on the Path to a High Performance System, the report takes into account the implications of research not reflected in previous analyses, and shows in detail where the projected cost savings would come from. The combination of provisions in the House and Senate bills would save $683 billion or more in national health spending over 2010-2019 and lower premiums by nearly $2,000 per family. [Commonwealth Fund & Center for American Progress Action Fund, 12/4/2009] MOMENTUM BUILDING
The Senate emerged from a productive weekend of Floor debate and bill negotiations. In a rare Sunday visit, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod, and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina went to Capitol Hill to offer encouragement to Senators in their efforts to reach agreement. Today the Senate will continue to offer and debate amendments to health insurance reform legislation, with votes expected this afternoon.
Health Care Headlines Push for Deal on Public Health Plan
President Obama exhorted Senate Democrats on Sunday to put aside their differences and seize their moment in history by passing landmark health legislation. But senators said he did not mention sticky issues like abortion or a new government-run insurance plan. [New York Times, 12/7/2009] Obama Presses Democrats on Health-Care Bill
President Obama made a rare Sunday visit to the Capitol to urge a fractious Democratic caucus to pull together to pass landmark health-care legislation. [Washington Post, 12/7/2009] Senate to Confront Abortion In Health Care Debate
Buoyed by a presidential pep talk and intense rounds of negotiations, Senate Democrats hope to move closer to embracing a major health care bill this week by tackling the nettlesome issue of abortion.
[Associated Press, 12/7/2009] Deals Cut With Health Groups May Be At Peril
Heading into a make-or-break week, Senate Democratic leaders are struggling to preserve the fragile support of interest groups for an overhaul of the nation's health-care system, even as lawmakers seek to change the carefully crafted provisions that brought the groups on board. [Washington Post, 12/6/2009] Study: Congress Doesn’t Backtrack on Medicare Cuts
Assertions on Sunday talk shows and in op-ed pieces that Medicare cuts won’t really fund coverage of the uninsured because Congress will rescind them later isn’t borne out by previous congressional action on Medicare, according to a new study. [CQ HealthBeat, 12/4/2009] EDITORIAL: Senate Health Care Follies
The first week of debate on the Senate’s health care bill was a depressing mixture of foolish posturing by members of both parties and blatant obstructionism by Republicans. If this is the best the Senate can do, we are in for very rough going. [New York Times, 12/6/2009] OPINION: The Best Holiday Gift
By E.J. Dionne Jr.
This is the paradox of the moment: President Obama's speech on Afghanistan and his subsequent jobs summit underscored why it's essential to get a health-care bill done quickly. The calendar of politics has an urgency that the dilatory pace of the U.S. Senate doesn't match. [Washington Post, 12/7/2009] OPINION: Health-Care Nation
By Robert J. Samuelson
President Obama's critics sometimes say that he is engineering a government takeover of health care or even introducing "socialized medicine" into America. These allegations are wildly overblown.
[Washington Post, 12/7/2009 | 