Health Reform in the House | Fact of the Day Without health insurance reform, small business owners will pay as much as $2.4 trillion over the next decade, and small business employees will lose $834 billion in wages, due to high healthcare costs. (Small Business Majority) | | Follow Health Insurance Reform
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At the Time This Daily Dose Was Sent, Insured Americans Had Paid a “Hidden Tax” of $46,194,671,407 since January 1, 2009 in Additional Premium Costs to Cover Care for the Uninsured. Under the Microscope BUILDING SUPPORT FOR REFORM This month’s Kaiser Health Tracking poll shows that the public, including critics, become more supportive of health insurance reform when told about key provisions. Some of the elements of the legislation that prompted a majority of skeptics to soften their opposition included tax credits for small businesses, and the fact that most people’s existing insurance arrangements would not change. The more people know about what’s in reform, the more they like it. UNDERESTIMATING SAVINGS The last three major Medicare bills garnered more savings than the Congressional Budget Office estimated. Jon Gabel with National Opinion Research Center and the Commonwealth Fund, released a study examining CBO scoring of major reform legislation enacted during each of the past three decades, including the prospective payment system for hospitals in the 1980s, the Balanced Budget Act of the 1990s, and the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. In contrasting actual spending with predicted spending, CBO, in all three cases, substantially underestimated savings from these reform measures. The author cited this is most likely due to the difficulty of assessing the impact of multiple changes made simultaneously without historical precedent. Read the issue brief.
(Commonwealth Fund, 1/20/2010)
Health Care Headlines White House Defends Healthcare Legislation Despite Senate Loss
The Obama administration tried Sunday to steady itself and its top domestic priority after last week's stunning Massachusetts Senate upset, as a top White House official vowed to move ahead with comprehensive healthcare legislation because "the underlying elements of it are popular and important. [L.A. Times, 1/25/2010] Five Key Health Reform Questions
President Barack Obama’s push for sweeping health care reform hangs in the balance when Congress returns this week, after being thrown into doubt by Republican Scott Brown’s special election win in Massachusetts [Politico, 1/24/2010] Insurer Steps Up Fight to Control Health Care Cost
A front in the national health care battle has opened in New York City, where a major hospital chain and one of the nation’s largest insurance companies are locked in a struggle over control of treatment and costs that could have broad ramifications for millions of people with private health insurance. [New York Times, 1/25/2010]
Read about insurance company spending. SEIU Chief: If Dems Pass Scaled-Down Health Bill, Labor Will Have Trouble Staying “Focused On National Politics”
SEIU chief Andy Stern took a hard shot at Dem leaders just now for considering a scaled-down health care bill, strongly hinting that labor might not work as hard for Dem candidates in 2010 if they failed to deliver real and comprehensive reform. [Plum Line, 1/22/2010] OPINION: November Doesn’t Need To Be A Nightmare For Democrats
By David Plouffe, campaign manager of Obama for America & Obama-Biden 2008
Pass a meaningful health insurance reform package without delay. Americans' health and our nation's long-term fiscal health depend on it. [Washington Post, 1/24/2010] OPINION: After the Massachusetts Massacre
By Frank Rich
Does health care matter? Not as much as you’d think after this yearlong crusade. In the Post/ABC poll, the issue was second-tier — at 24 percent. [New York Times, 1/24/2010]
Read more how health care fit into last week’s election from Washington Post-Kaiser-Harvard or AFL-CIO polling. | 