Health Reform in the House | Fact of the Day The national cost of Medicare Advantage overpayments is estimated to be $12 billion a year. (MedPAC) | Health Resources |
Under the Microscope REPORT: How Health Insurance Reform Will Help America’s Older & Senior Women
While all Americans shoulder the burden of rising health care costs and increasingly inadequate health insurance, the 17 million older women (ages 55-64) and 21 million senior women (ages 65 and older) in America have unique situations and health care needs that make them particularly susceptible to rising costs – at a time in their lives when access to affordable health care is increasingly important. Health insurance reform will remove these hurdles to ensure that older and senior women, along with all other Americans, get the quality, affordable health care they deserve.
[The White House, 9/3/2009]
Health Care Headlines President To Flesh Out His Vision In Speech
After spending weeks on the defensive in the fight over his top legislative priority, President Obama will attempt to regain the initiative in the health-care debate with an address to a joint session of Congress next Wednesday night.
[Washington Post, 9/3/2009] Read a related article. Sources: Obama, GOP's Snowe Work on Health Care Compromise
President Obama and top aides have quietly stepped up talks with moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine on a scaled-back health care bill, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. [CNN, 9/3/2009] Read a related article. At Vigils, Support Shown For Health-Care Bill
Amid ongoing debate over health-care reform, thousands gathered Wednesday night at events held across the nation, including at least four in the Washington area, to urge Congress and the Obama Administration to approve a bill soon. [Washington Post, 9/3/2009] 'Underinsured' Find Health Bills Piling Up
Cathy Kerns has multiple sclerosis. The drugs she takes are lifesaving, she says, but they cost more than $5,000 a month -- and she must make a 20 percent co-payment. Her specialized physical therapy costs $600 per half-hour -- and she pays 20 percent of that. [Miami Herald, 9/3/2009] Minnesota Experiment Puts Patient's Health First
In the health care debate, many agree that the payment system for doctors and hospitals doesn't work. They're paid for each procedure they perform, giving them a perverse incentive to perform more. [NPR, 9/2/2009] Tangible and Unseen Healthcare Costs
When a patient shows up at a doctor's office with a bruise after falling and bumping his head, the physician might order a CT scan even if she believes the injury is superficial. [Wall Street Journal, 9/3/2009] OPINION: The Real Town Hall Story
By E.J. Dionne Jr.
Health-care reform is said to be in trouble partly because of those raucous August town-hall meetings in which Democratic members of Congress were besieged by shouters opposed to change.
[Washington Post, 9/3/2009] OPINION: Climbing The Hill On Health Care
By Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader (D-ND)
During the month of August and even before Kennedy's funeral, I heard many of those members talk about national health reform and say, "We just can't do this. It is simply too hard." [New York Times, 9/3/2009] OPINION: Roosevelt-The Great Divider
By Jean Edward Smith, author of “F.D.R.” and professor, Marshall University
President Obama’s apparent readiness to backtrack on the public insurance option in his health care package is not just a concession to his political opponents — this fixation on securing bipartisan support for health care reform suggests that the Democratic Party has forgotten how to govern and the White House has forgotten how to lead. [New York Times, 9/3/2009] OPINION: Congress Underestimating Savings From Treating Chronic Disease
By Michael O’Grady, PhD, former assistant secretary for planning & evaluation, DHHS, and senior fellow, National Opinion Research Center
If Congress wants to find ways to curb the crushing costs of health care, it must modernize how it assesses the costs and savings of treating chronic disease, which accounts for 75 percent of our nation’s annual health spending. [Roll Call, 9/1/2009] OPINION: Healthcare That Works
By Nicholas Kristof
Health care reform may be defeated this year in part because so many Americans believe the government can’t do anything right and fear that a doctor will come to resemble an I.R.S. agent with a scalpel.
[New York Times, 9/2/2009] |