Health Reform in the House | Fact of the Day Private health plans that enroll Medicare beneficiaries—known as Medicare Advantage (MA) plans—are being paid $11.4 billion more in 2009 than it would cost to cover these beneficiaries in regular fee-for-service Medicare.
(Commonwealth Fund) | Health Resources |
Under the Microscope ISSUE BRIEF: Paying Medicare Advantage by Competitive Bidding: How Much Competition Is There?
To generate Medicare savings for offsetting the costs of health reform, the Obama Administration has proposed eliminating these extra payments to private insurers and instituting a competitive bidding system that pays MA plans based on the bids they submit. This study examines the concentration of enrollment among MA plans and the degree to which firms offering MA plans actually face competition. The results show that in the large majority of U.S. counties, MA plan enrollment is highly concentrated in a small number of firms. Given the relative lack of competition in many markets as well as the potential impact on traditional Medicare, the authors call for careful consideration of a new system for setting MA plan payments. [Commonwealth Fund, 8/12/2009]
Health Care Headlines 8 Myths About Health Care Reform And Why We Can’t Afford to Believe Them Anymore
“There is enough evidence that it is now time to do something and to do the right thing." The key is to focus on the facts—and to dispel, once and for all, the myths that block our progress. [AARP Magazine, August 2009] White House Makes ‘Viral E-Mail’ of Its Own
Feeling victimized by misinformation spread virally through the Internet, the White House Thursday is launching its own "viral e-mail" for supporters to spread. [ABC News, 8/13/2009] Massive Campaign for Obama Hits Air
A new coalition on Thursday is launching $12 million in television ads to support President Barack Obama’s health-reform plan, in the opening wave of a planned tens of millions of dollars this fall. [Politico, 8/13/2009] U.S. Religious Left Wades into Healthcare Fight
Liberal religious groups announced on Monday they are teaming up with President Barack Obama in a national campaign to counter the surprisingly vehement conservative opposition to his plan for overhaul of the U.S. healthcare industry this year. [Reuters, 8/10/2009] House Rules Chairwoman Takes Aim at Health Insurers
House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and a former health insurance company executive launched fresh attacks Wednesday on insurance companies, arguing that they are fomenting opposition to health care reform. [Roll Call, 8/12/2009] Sleeping in a Parking Lot to Get Health Care
Let’s pause for a moment from all those town halls to mention a different kind of large, public health-care gathering: More than 2,000 people showed up yesterday at a Southern California basketball arena seeking free medical and dental care. [Wall Street Journal, 8/12/2009] Read a related article. EDITORIAL: Health Reform and Small Business
The impact on small businesses has become a flashpoint in the increasingly raucous debate over health care reform. [New York Times, 8/12/2009] OPINION: Reform Health Care Based on Facts
By Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), chairman emeritus, House Committee on Energy & Commerce
Town hall meetings continue a democratic tradition that goes back more than 2,500 years.
[Detroit News, 8/11/2009] OPINION: Progress Over Perfection
By Paul Begala, former political consultant to President Bill Clinton and Democratic strategist
I am a proud progressive Democrat, someone who believes affordable, quality health care is an economic necessity and a moral imperative. [Washington Post, 8/13/2009]
Read a brief history of attempts at health reform. OPINION: A Price to Pay for the Town Hall Rage
By David S. Broder
Watching the muscular tactics being used in congressional town meetings by some opponents of health-care reform, I keep thinking somebody should remind the Republican leaders who are reveling in the scenes about Bruce Alger. [Washington Post, 8/13/2009] OPINION: 10 Steps to Better Health Care
By Atul Gawande, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Donald Berwick, Institute for Healthcare Improvement; Elliott Fisher, Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy; and Mark McClellan, Brookings Institution
The various reform bills making their way through the process have included provisions to protect successful medical communities by incorporating payment approaches that reward those that slow spending growth while improving patient outcomes. [New York Times, 8/12/2009] OPINION: Like Your Health Insurance? Maybe You Shouldn’t
By Simon Johnson, former IMF chief economist & professor of management at MIT and James Kwak, former McKinsey consultant and co-author, The Baseline Scenario
If we fail to reform our health care system this year, a major reason will be that a majority of Americans are satisfied with their health coverage and believe that reform could hurt them. [Washington Post, 8/11/2009] OPINION: It is Democracy, Not Health-Care Reform, That is Sick
By Ezra Klein
As Josh Marshall says, we've reached a point in the health-care reform discussion where logic has fallen apart. [Washington Post, 8/13/2009] INTERVIEW: White House Official Weighs in on Health Debate
Melissa Block talks with Nancy-Ann DeParle, counselor to the president and director of the White House Office of Health Reform, about the state of play on a plan to overhaul the health care insurance system.
[NPR, 8/12/2009] Read other interviews with DeParle on NPR and in The Washington Post. OPINION: The Swiftboating of Health Reform
By Jonathan Cohn
Recently, in two separate conversations, I heard senior Democratic officials remark that they were taken aback by the right's distortions in the health care debate.
[New Republic, 8/12/2009] Read a referenced article in Time, and about Zeke Emanuel’s op-ed. OPINION: Who’s Behind That Obama-as-Hitler Sign? Lyndon LaRouche
By Suzy Khimm
Right-wing protesters aren't the only ones likening Democrats to Nazis for supporting Obamacare.
[New Republic, 8/12/2009] |