The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Showing 1 - 12 of 12
This country is in such a hole that it is senseless to deny that some new taxes will be needed to pay for all of the nation's accumulated debts. But folks, we can't just tax our way out of this mess.
A survey of public opinions and the current political landscape suggests it will be those vulnerable Senate Democrats facing election in 2012 who are most likely to push the agenda to improve the health overhaul.
There are ways for Democrats and Republicans to agree to improve the new health care law in 2011.
The individual mandate as included in the health overhaul isn't even close to what it has been made to be -- a provision that would protect the integrity of the health insurance market by forcing people to buy health insurance before they became sick.
What if a Republican governor and a Republican legislature had the ability to implement their version of health insurance reform and the federal government would have to pay for it? It's a great idea. And I'm thrilled to say that a bi-partisan bill has already been introduced in the Senate by Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Scott Brown, R-Mass., that would help facilitate exactly this end.
We need more proposals like those being made by the President's deficit reduction commission, and the Medicare reform proposal authored by Republican House members Ryan, Cantor, and McCarthy. Irrespective of whether they are the best proposals, their authors started from a place where they told the truth.
The White House health summit looks to this observer as a draw. Neither side scored any knockout blows.
A few modest first steps could do a lot to begin to build some bipartisan trust -- and actually help some Americans who need it.
We have plenty of time to take this back to where it should have been in the first place - beginning the long and complex journey to create a health care system that pays for value.
Neither fiscal conservatives nor liberals are left with much reason to believe the House-passed bill has much chance of bending any cost curves.
From the looks of these health care bills, this "health care reform" thing will be great for business! But as far as "bending the curve" and beginning to make our health care system any more affordable or sustainable-or any less of a burden on patients and taxpayers-I can't find it.
While we desperately need a sustainable health care reform in America to cover all of our people, Congress getting ready to send the president little more than a health care entitlement expansion that will give us a health care system even more unsustainable then the one we now have.
Stay informed by signing up for the Morning Briefing and other emails:
© 2026 KFF