Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Developments Related to Health Care Issues in New Hampshire U.S. Senate Race

Summaries of developments related to health care issues in the New Hampshire U.S. Senate race between former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D) and incumbent Sen. John Sununu (R) appear below.

• Shaheen: Shaheen on Wednesday at a health care roundtable with about 24 state residents promoted a health care proposal that would help small businesses offer health insurance to employees, Foster's Daily Democrat reports. According to Shaheen, the proposal would provide tax credits to businesses that have as many as 50 employees and cover at least 60% of employees' health insurance premiums. The tax credits would cover as much as 50% of the share of health insurance premiums paid by small businesses, she said. However, the proposal would apply only to small businesses in states in which health insurers cannot discriminate against small businesses with employees with pre-existing medical conditions, according to Shaheen. She said that she would finance the proposal through savings from a reduction in preventable medical errors and the elimination of tax cuts for higher-income U.S. residents. The Sununu campaign did not comment on the proposal but criticized Shaheen for past support of federal and state measures that prompted health insurers to leave the state (Krauss [1], Foster's Daily Democrat, 8/21).
  
  
• Sununu: Sununu this week visited health care providers in several cities in the state as part of National Health Care Week and promised to continue efforts to make health care more accessible and affordable, the Daily Democrat reports. As part of the trip, Sununu visited Exeter Hospital, which has begun to provide radiation treatment for veterans after he asked the Department of Veterans Affairs in June to contract with providers in the state to offer the therapy. Sununu made the request amid efforts to establish a full-service VA hospital in the state. A spokesperson for the Shaheen campaign said that Sununu should have acted earlier to establish such a full-service VA hospital in the state (Krauss [2], Foster's Daily Democrat, 8/21).