THE DAILY DOSE: TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2009

Daily Dose
For Immediate Release:
2009-07-28T00:00:00
Contact Info:
Katie Grant
Stephanie Lundberg
(202) 225 - 3130
Health Reform in the House

Fact of the Day

Per capita medical costs are expected to increase 71 percent over the next decade in the absence of health insurance reform.
(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)

Health Resources

Under the Microscope

REPORT: Health Care Premiums Run Amok
This analysis shows that without health reform, average family premiums will grow to more than $22,000 by 2019, up from $13,100 today. In some states with higher-than-average premiums, family premiums will exceed $25,000 in 10 years. A family’s total health care costs will be even higher once co-payments and other out-of-pocket expenses are calculated into the total. [Center for American Progress, 7/24/2009]

View the corresponding state-by-state table showing a comprehensive review of health care premiums.

Health Care Headlines

  • Republicans Yet to Reveal Their Own Health Care Bill
    While House Republican leaders blast away at the Democratic health care reform legislation, the GOP has yet to reveal its own alternative legislation. [Politico, 7/27/2009]
  • CBO Boosts Obama’s Health Plan
    President Obama and his Democratic allies, scrambling to broker a health care deal Monday, finally got an upbeat assessment from Congress' official scorekeeper when it said the plan for government-run coverage would not force out private insurers. [Washington Times, 7/28/2009]
  • Finance Plan Won’t Include Employer Mandate, Public Plan
    The bipartisan healthcare overhaul proposal in the works behind closed doors in the Senate Finance Committee will not include a broad employer mandate.
    [Congress Daily, 7/28/2009] Read a related article.
  • A Bid to Tax Health Plans of Executives
    Goldman Sachs is one of the nation’s richest banks, and hundreds of top Goldman employees have a health care package to match — one of the “gold-plated Cadillac” plans cited by those involved in the health care debate in Washington. [New York Times, 7/26/2009]
  • Rural Medical Camp Tackles Health Care Gaps
    It was a Third World scene with an American setting. Hundreds of tired and desperate people crowded around an aid worker with a bullhorn, straining to hear the instructions and worried they might be left out. [NPR, 7/27/2009]
  • Cutting Repeat Hospital Trips – Simple Idea, Hard to Pull Off
    One prescription for slashing billions of dollars from America's health-care spending will come down to questions like this: Can hospitals persuade discharged patients such as Betty Beauchaine to pass up a Fourth of July hot dog? [Wall Street Journal, 7/28/2009]
  • OPINION: Our New Medical Judges?
    By David S. Broder
    Americans are familiar with -- if not altogether comfortable about -- unelected officials exercising great authority over our lives. [Washington Post, 7/26/2009]