THE DAILY DOSE: TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2009

Under the Microscope

OUTLINE: Key Features of the Tri-Committee Health Reform Draft Proposal
Today the three House Committees with jurisdiction over comprehensive health care reform, Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and Labor, released an outline of their draft proposal of legislation to be put forth later this month.
[Committees on Energy & Commerce, Ways & Means, and Education and Labor, 6/9/2009]

Read Coverage of the House Tri-Committee Outline in
CQ Today and The Washington Post.

REPORT: Health Disparities: A Case For Closing the Gap
Despite consistent increases in spending, disparities among demographic groups persist. Low-income Americans and racial and ethnic minorities experience disproportionately higher rates of disease, fewer treatment options, and reduced access to care. With unemployment on the rise, the disparities already apparent among these groups will continue to increase. This new report released on HealthReform.gov makes the case for reform. [DHHS, 6/9/2009]

Health Care Headlines

• Minority Lawmakers to Highlight Health Disparities
  Black, Latino and Asian lawmakers want President Barack Obama to focus more on racial disparities reported in medical treatment as the White House works toward overhauling the nation's health care system.
  [Associated Press, 6/9/2009]
• Health Care Spending Disparities Stir a Fight
  President Obama recently summoned aides to the Oval Office to discuss a magazine article investigating why the border town of McAllen, Tex., was the country’s most expensive place for health care. [New York Times, 6/8/2009]
• Decision Makers Differ on How To Mend Broken Health System
  Nowhere else in the world is so much money spent with such poor results. On that point there is rare unanimity among Washington decision makers: The U.S. health system needs a major overhaul. [Washington Post, 6/9/2009]
• Health Care Reform Debate Heats Up on Capitol Hill
  After President Obama urges Congress to ready a health care reform bill, lawmakers are beginning to ask tough questions on how to overhaul the complex system. Reporters examine the balancing act developing between Congress and the White House. [Lehrer Newshour, 6/8/2009]
• Two Thorny Details Bedevil Health Bill
  Two pressure points are emerging in Congress's rush to pass health-care legislation by the August break: how to pay for the package and whether to create a new public health-insurance plan.
  [Wall Street Journal, 6/9/2009]
• Conrad Pitches Compromise Public Plan, JCT Details Overhaul Financing Options
  Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad pitched a compromise public insurance plan that resembles a co-op to leading healthcare senators Monday afternoon as they met on the upcoming healthcare overhaul. [CongressDaily, 6/9/09]
• U.S. Takeover Looms with Public Plan, Senate Finance GOP Warns
  With President Obama beginning to weigh in more forcefully on specific provisions of health overhaul legislation, talk of bipartisan action on revamping the health care system is beginning to give way to increasingly heated criticism of the White House on issues such as a new government-run health plan and taxation of health insurance benefits.
  [CQ HealthBeat, 6/8/2009]
• Health Care Storm Clouds Near
  As health care reform takes shape in the House and Senate and shows signs of veering decidedly left, business lobbyists are considering joining their Republican allies and mounting a public relations offensive to put the brakes on President Barack Obama’s overhaul plans. [Roll Call, 6/9/2009]
• Bipartisan Health Bill Is Possible, Leaders Say
  Plenty of people here think Senators Max Baucus and Charles E. Grassley are wasting time seeking a bipartisan health care bill to insure every American. And skeptics boast a 70-year winning streak.
  [New York Times, 6/7/2009]
• Senate Feels Ted Kennedy’s Absence on Health Bill
  The run-up to major health care legislation is now a full-on frenzy, and some of the main power players were in yet another marathon meeting on Monday afternoon in the not-so-secret hideaway office of Senator Edward Kennedy. [New York Times, 6/8/2009]
• Robust Revenue Options Detailed
  The most talked-about strategy to pay for overhauling the health care system — taxing a portion of employer-provided benefits — would generate $418.5 billion over the next 10 years, according to an early estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation. [CQ Today, 6/8/2009]
• How Congress Might Tax Your Health Benefits
  If you work at a company that reimburses employees for joining a gym, you pay income taxes on the value of that perk. If you get life insurance through work, there's a good chance that you pay taxes on a portion. [NPR, 6/8/2009]
• The Risks And Rewards Of Taxing Health Benefits
  For lawmakers looking for a way to fund a health care overhaul, employee benefits are a juicy target. Taxing those benefits could raise as much as $150 billion a year. [NPR, 6/8/2009]
• What Obama Said — And What He Meant
  After months of avoiding the public back-and-forth on health care reform, President Barack Obama waded deeper into the debate last week with a letter sharing some of his thoughts with leading Democratic senators. [Politico, 6/9/2009]
• EDITORIAL: A Few Symptoms: President Obama's First Foray into the Details of Health-Care Reform
  Throughout the first months of his administration, President Obama was resolutely fuzzy about the details of health-care reform. [Washington Post, 6/8/2009]
• EDITORIAL: Obama's Health Cost Illusion: The President's Main Case for Reform is Rooted in False Claims and Little Evidence
  The main White House argument for health-care reform goes something like this: If we spend now on a hugely expensive new insurance program for the middle class, we can save later by reducing overall U.S. health spending. [Wall Street Journal, 6/9/2009]
• OPINION: Controlling Health Care Cost Requires Heart
  By Congresswoman Lois Capps, BSN (D-CA)
  In grade school, children learn that you can’t have a healthy body without a healthy heart. Unfortunately, millions of Americans suffer from preventable cardiac disease that gives them not only unhealthy hearts, poor overall health and shortened life spans, but also result in a substantial financial strain on our nation’s health care system. [Roll Call, 6/8/2009]
• OPINION: Harry and Louise Have Changed
  By E.J. Dionne
  Fifty million new customers. Those may be the most important words to remember as the health-care reform effort hits its stride this week. [Washington Post, 6/8/2009]
• LETTER: Health Care Reform, As the Insurers See It
  By Michael Tuffin, executive vice president, America’s Health Insurance Plans
  Health care reform is simply too important to be hijacked by ideology, divisive rhetoric and the settling of old scores. [New York Times, 6/8/2009]