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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.
Democrats on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions today released their health care reform bill called “Affordable Health Choices Act.” Kaiser Health News Senior Correspondent Mary Agnes Carey discusses the bill.
A new memo from Democratic pollster Celinda Lake is the latest to give advice for partisans on shaping the health reform legislation messages to the public.
Officials said Tuesday that the time is now to tackle ethnic, economic and gender disparities in health care as they ready a major overhaul of the nation’s health care system.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus says the bill soon to come out of his committee will include comparative effectiveness requirements.
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.
Kaiser Health News’ Mary Agnes Carey discusses recent and upcoming activities on the Hill — part of a weekly series of video reports.
Kaiser Health News’ Mary Agnes Carey discusses upcoming and recent activities on Capitol Hill.
Taxing employee health benefits might fund a health care overhaul, but could sink its political chances.
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.
Lawmakers are considering varied approaches to taxing employer-provided health insurance as a means of paying for an overhaul of the health system, Kaiser Health News reports. Proposals include taxing benefits above a certain premium amount, taxing the benefits only of high-income earners, or combining both approaches.
A partial draft of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s HELP committee health reform legislation is circulating in Washington.
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.
Democrats and Republicans moved further apart this afternoon over the possibility of including a public plan in any health care reform legislation.
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.
Public and private insurance plans say they evaluate medical services for coverage by looking at published scientific research, rating the evidence and making comparisons based on effectiveness and safety. But their approaches vary widely in terms of transparency, comprehensiveness in reviewing evidence, openness to outside suggestions and explicit consideration of cost.
A Washington state program decides whether to cover new treatments and tests by comparing them with the standard alternatives. If there’s no real difference, a panel of medical professionals can pick the least expensive. Decisions are binding for employees insured by the state, workers’ compensation claimants and patients in Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor.
President Obama sent this letter to Senators Edward Kennedy and Max Baucus regarding health reform.
Sen. Max Baucus told single-payer advocates Wednesday that he regrets not allowing more discussion of the single-payer plan in attempts at health care reform, but that it’s too far along in the process to consider it now.
How Congress decides several important issues could affect how millions of Americans get and pay for insurance and medical care.
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