Health On The Hill — June 22, 2009
Kaiser Health News’ Mary Agnes Carey discusses recent and upcoming activities on the Hill — part of a weekly series of video reports.
All Coverage
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Opinion Column
Boosting Home Care: An Uphill Battle
Once a senior begins receiving long-term care services, she and her family often are in for two shocks. The first is that Medicare won’t pay beyond perhaps a few months after a hospitalization. The second is that while Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor, may help, chances are it will only do so for nursing home residents.
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Doctors Say Electronic Data-Sharing Is Saving Lives, Money
Memphis, Tenn., is one of a growing number of areas with a successful high-tech health information exchange, which proponents say saves lives and money. But the system now faces a crucial test: what happens when the initial funding runs out?
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House Democrats Release Sweeping Reform Plan
The Democratic members of three House committees today released a plan they said would lower health care costs and improve health care choices. They plan includes individual as well as employer mandates to buy insurance and would provide for a government-run public plan alternative to private insurance.
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HELP: A Sampler of Amendments
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee continues to plow through hundreds of amendments as it works on its health overhaul bill. Here’s a short selection of amendments, which show a wide range of interests and concerns, and are pending unless otherwise marked.
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Is “Public Option” a Practical Fix or Partisan Poison?
The Web site Politics Daily asked two experts to debate perhaps the hottest topic in health reform: Whether to create a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurance plans. The debaters on the so-called “public option” are Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now and James Gelfand, senior manager of health policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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T-Word Looms Large In Health Care Cost Debate
Everybody knew that a complete overhaul of the nation’s health care system was going to be an expensive undertaking.
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Opinion Column
The Federal Government Should Have Limited, But Crucial, Role In Comp Effectiveness
The government shoudn’t be the arbiter that makes final decisions on the value of one treatment over another, but can play an important role in collecting and disseminating information about the most effective treatments.
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Opinion Column
Health Reform: The Reality Show
The health care reform discussion is beginning-at last!-to get real. On June 9, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee released a draft bill, and the Congressional Budget Office published an estimate that the bill would cost $1 trillion over 10 years and leave 35 million uninsured.
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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.
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Former Senators Unveil Bipartisan Health Proposal, Would Tax Benefits, Mandate Coverage
Three former Senate leaders unveiled a bipartisan health care reform package Wednesday that includes individual and employer mandates, as well as a tax on health benefits.
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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.
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Bartering For Health Care Rises
When people in Floyd County, Va., visit Dr. Susan Osborne, they can pay for their medicals exam with vegetables, lessons, carpentry services as well as cash. Bartering is a way of life in the rural area, Dr. Osborne says: “It just gives people another avenue to have health care.”
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Recession Drives More People to Barter For Health Care
With many people strapped for cash, barter “exchanges” for health care is providing a temporary safety net of sorts for some workers who have lost their jobs and health coverage. And in some cases, people who have inadequate insurance are using barter to get critical services, such as dental and vision benefits.
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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.
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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.
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Video: Obama Speaks To AMA
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.
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Doctors Say Current System Impedes Patient Care
Doctors say lack of health insurance and not enough time with patients are major problems.
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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.
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Health On The Hill — June 15, 2009
Kaiser Health News’ Mary Agnes Carey discusses recent and upcoming activities on the Hill — part of a weekly series of video reports.
