Health Reform in the House | Fact of the Day Small businesses with payrolls at or below $500,000 are completely exempt from the employer mandate in H.R. 3200. Businesses with payrolls between $500,000 and $750,000 face a graduated fee if no coverage is provided. | | Follow Health Insurance Reform
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At The Time This Daily Dose Was Sent, Insured Americans Had Paid a “Hidden Tax” of $33,156,498,429 This Year In Additional Premium Costs To Cover Care For The Uninsured. Under the Microscope Rounding The Bend, Not Yet At The Home Stretch House Democrats met today for the second time this week to discuss outstanding decisions regarding the House bill. Caucus meetings will continue tomorrow. Late this afternoon the Senate Finance Committee heard back from the Congressional Budget Office that its bill was scored at $829 Billion over ten years and reduces the deficit by $81 Billion. The Finance bill would cover 94 percent of the non-elderly American population. Read CBO Director Doug Elmendorf’s blog on the new letter. Steady Support A new Associated Press / GfK poll out this morning shows a significant up-tick in support for health reform since the dip in early August. This follows the findings of several polls out in the last month showing steady support for health insurance reform.
Read the full AP article.
Health Care Headlines State-Run Health Plans Garner Support
Some influential centrist Democrats in the Senate are warming to a compromise that envisions health-insurance plans run by state governments, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger added his voice Tuesday to a small group of Republicans expressing support for a Democratic-led overhaul plan.
[Wall Street Journal, 10/7/2009] Four Senators’ Concerns Reflect Health Care Challenge
Taken together, the four senators represent the spectrum of concerns Democrats will face in trying to assemble the 60 votes they need to get a bill through the full Senate using regular procedure. Satisfying each of them, without alienating the others, is the challenge facing Democratic leaders.
[New York Times, 10/6/2009] People Uninsured Before Medicare Have Higher Medical Bills, Study Finds
Expanding health insurance to cover everyone over the age of 51 might help save costs to Medicare in the long run, according to a new study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine. [New York Times, 10/5/2009] Pelosi Touts Health Overhaul, Public Option to Women
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promoted the value of the health overhaul for women on Tuesday, saying that women now can be charged 50 percent more than men for the same insurance premiums in the individual market. [CQ HealthBeat, 10/6/2009] Patient Advocates Fear Bias In Wellness Incentives
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers seem eager to encourage employers to create and expand programs that tie a portion of workers' health insurance premiums to their willingness to change unhealthy behaviors. But there's growing concern that some of those programs represent a new way to discriminate against those in less than perfect health. [NPR, 10/7/2009] EDITORIAL: Cautious Republican Support For Health-Care Reform
The Obama administration has had little luck in picking up Republican support for health-care reform inside Congress, but it is having better luck outside the halls of the U.S. Capitol.
[Scripps News Service, 10/6/2009] Read a related article. | 