PBS ‘NewsHour With Jim Lehrer’ Series Examines Health Care Challenges for Obama, Congress

PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" recently aired a three-part series on the health care challenges that face President-elect Barack Obama and the new Congress. Summaries of the three segments of the series appear below.

• "Even Insured Patients Struggle as Health Care Costs Rise": The first segment of the series examined how the current economic recession has affected health care decisions for U.S. residents with health insurance. According to the segment, annual health insurance premium and deductible increases in recent years have exceeded average wage increases, a trend that has prompted more residents to delay preventive care. The segment includes comments from David Osborn, a health policy analyst at Vanderbilt University; Leah Patton of the Nashville Medical Group; St. Thomas Heart Baptist Hospital CEO Charlie Powell; and Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Bowser, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 1/5).
  
  
• "States Face Shortages of Primary Care Doctors": The second segment of the series examined how large medical school debts, low compensation and long hours have prompted fewer medical students to seek careers in primary care, a trend that has led to a shortage of primary care physicians. According to the segment, nations with strong primary care networks have some of the longest life expectancy rates, lowest infant mortality rates and highest levels of chronic disease management. The segment includes comments from Bruce Auerbach, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society (Bowser, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 1/6).
  
  
• "As Costs Rise, Businesses Struggle To Provide Worker Health Insurance": The third segment examined how the recession has limited the ability of small businesses to offer health insurance to employees and prompted more businesses to switch to high-deductible health plans. The segment includes comments from Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman (Bowser, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 1/7).