Latest KFF Health News Stories
Health Reform Debate Highlights Budget Agency’s Critical Role
The Congressional Budget Office took center stage this week when its assessment of a health overhaul plan fueled criticism of its cost. Little known outside of Washington, the CBO is an arbiter of the cost and impact of legislation — meaning it will continue to play a critical role in the health reform debate. Senate Finance Committee Democrats, meanwhile, vow to re-tool their as-yet-unreleased proposal to make it less costly.
Kennedy Absent As His Health Bill Launches
Sen. Edward Kennedy’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Wednesday becomes the first panel in Congress to formally start work on a bill to overhaul the nation’s health system. But Kennedy, still undergoing treatment for brain cancer, won’t be there in person to drop the gavel.
Republicans Cite New Analysis In Attacking Senate Health Reform Bill
A new analysis of a major Senate health reform bill reports it would cost the government $1 trillion but reduce the number of uninsured by a net of only 16 million. The estimates by the Congressional Budget Office provided Republican critics with fresh ammunition on a day when President Obama was defending his plan before a national audience of doctors.
MedPAC: Medicare Must Reinvent Its Payment Sytems to Improve Quality, Save Money
A low-profile commission that advises Congress on Medicare recommends, as it has in the past, that the way health providers are paid be revamped. Congress is showing interest in the issue as it grapples with broader health reform.
President Barack Obama urged doctors to support a health care overhaul when he spoke to the annual meeting of the American Medical Association today in Chicago. Video courtesy of C-SPAN.
Transcript: President Obama Speaks To The American Medical Association
President Barack Obama today addressed the annual meeting of the American Medical Association. He discussed the future of the health care system and asked for their help with health reform.
Everybody’s Business: Reform Would Help Corporations
One of the more promising signs for health care reform over the past two years has been the apparent support of the business community.
Democrats Target A Dozen GOP Senators In Quest For Health Reform Deal
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and other Democrats are pursuing a dozen GOP senators they think may vote for a health reform deal. To round up as many as 70 votes for a bipartisan majority, Baucus signaled a willingness to compromise on a key feature sought by President Obama and other Democrats: a government-run insurance plan as consumer option.
Use Medicare To Hold Industry To Cost And Quality Promises
Affordable health care for everyone is too important for policy makers to sit back and wait for the health care industry to cut costs and improve quality. The industry needs a push, in the form of a little financial pressure. Medicare is the mechanism through which the federal government has leverage to increase the pace of change in the U.S. health care system.
Solving the Political Paradox of Health Care Reform
After decades of effort, the enactment of universal health insurance coverage is actually in sight.
Labor Leaders Wary As Democratic Allies Weigh Health Reform Proposals
Labor leaders are worried as congressional Democrats weigh various health care overhaul proposals. Unions oppose taxation of employee benefits and want a strong public insurance plan to compete with private insurers, but some Democrats say they’re open to compromises on both issues to attract Republicans and fiscal conservatives in their own party. Unions have pledged to spend $80 million in their campaign to influence legislation.
HELP Committee Postpones Day Of Reckoning
Senate Democrats release health care bill leaving out–for the moment–two of the most contentious items, while promising more talks with Republicans. Meanwhile, in the House, chairmen of three committees brief fellow Democrats on the contours of their bill.
Lawmakers Pick Up Pace on Health Legislation
House and Senate Democrats are gearing up for what could be a crucial, month-long drive to craft health care legislation before the July 4 recess.
Health On The Hill — June 8, 2009
Kaiser Health News’ Mary Agnes Carey discusses recent and upcoming activities on the Hill — part of a weekly series of video reports.
Health Care Reform or Just Expensive Entitlement Expansion?
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.
‘Draft Of A Draft’ Of Kennedy Bill Surfaces
A partial draft of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s HELP committee health reform legislation is circulating in Washington.
How The Opposition Might Emerge In Health Care Debate
It’s almost crunch time: Influential senators involved in drafting health care legislation say they will begin unveiling bills within days. That means the real debate is about to begin. The big question: Where will the opposition come from and how intense will it be? We consulted policy and political experts to find out what they think will happen next.
I was on a phone call with fellow health policy types back during the presidential primary season when the conversation turned to pay-for-performance.
A Consumer’s Guide to Health Care Reform
How Congress decides several important issues could affect how millions of Americans get and pay for insurance and medical care.
Transcript of President Obama’s Remarks On Health Reform
President Barack Obama urges reform of the U.S. health care system in a meeting at the White House with Senate Democrats.
