Perspective Examines Funds for Health Care in Obama Budget Proposal

"Budgeting for Change -- Obama's Down Payment on Health Care Reform," New England Journal of Medicine: In the perspective, John Iglehart, a national correspondent for NEJM, calls President Obama's budget proposal -- which contains a "down payment of $630 billion" to fund health care reform -- "breathtaking in scope," but adds Obama's overall plan for reform is "sketchy on details." According to Iglehart, Obama's proposed budget will face challenges from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. In addition, HHS Secretary-nominee Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) "will have to contend with a phalanx of economists and analysts" over health care reform. He adds that the budget proposal "includes only a sliver of the savings required to slow the growth of health care costs," and that Congress might not "have the stomach to retrench a sector that is such a large part of the economy" (Iglehart, NEJM, 3/4).