The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
The AMA was the biggest spender for lobbying operations among health care groups last year as it faced a backlash from members angry that the new health law didn’t reverse planned cuts in Medicare reimbursements.
The passage of the federal health law last March brought an overall decrease in lobbying on health care from the massive effort during the heated congressional debate in 2009. Overall, 10 key health care players spent about $127 million on lobbying last year, down nearly 9 percent from 2009.
House Republicans have launched a series of hearings aimed at giving the law the comeuppance they think it deserves.
The launch of Medicare’s Physician Compare website should have been a watershed event in the long campaign for health care transparency and patient empowerment. But, so far, it hasn’t been.
Courtney Burke of the Rockefeller Institute talks about New York’s new governor’s plans to tackle the public health insurance program.
During his State of the Union Address, President Obama pledged to work with Republicans to change some elements of the health care law, such repealing a provision that the president said placed “an unnecessary bookkeeping burden” on small businesses. But the president made it clear he would not accept any major changes to the law. In the GOP response, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., said his party would work to repeal the law and replace it with more “fiscally responsible, patient-centered reforms.”
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., delivers the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech and vows the GOP will work to replace the health law.
In his State of the Union message, the president also said he’s “not willing … to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition.”
In President Obama’s State of the Union speech, he signaled a willingness to make some changes to the health law while leaving its main form intact.
Rep. Paul Ryan delivered the official GOP response to the president’s State of the Union address and Rep. Michele Bachmann separately added remarks geared to tea party concerns. Both called for repeal of the health law.
The Independent Payment Advisory Board, a key cost-containment provision of the health law scheduled to be created this year, faces an uncertain future.
Two people who benefited from the health care law provide State of the Union support.
Poll finds high support for Medicare and Medicaid, complicating political strategies for election of 2012.
More than 60 House Republicans are sponsoring a bill to permit the sale of health insurance across state lines. Consumer advocacy groups argue such provisions would erode many state protections.
Nine health policy experts explain what they would like to hear from the president Tuesday.
A big topic on the minds of many in the public policy community is what the future holds for the nation’s out-of-control entitlement spending in general and Medicare in specific.
It will take a serious and sustained effort to make co-ops a viable insurance option for consumers and small business owners.
Currently, policies provide only skimpy coverage for these services, which are often expensive. But this is an issue that regulators are wrestling with as they determine what conditions should be included in plans under the health law.
Just before Christmas, PolitiFact.com gave their Lie of the Year award to the idea that ObamaCare is a “government takeover of health care.” But, according to Michael Cannon, significant evidence suggests this claim is no lie at all.
