How Health Reform Bills Would – And Wouldn’t – Affect Illegal Immigrants
This brief explainer examines the number of uninsured illegal immigrants, where they go for health services and how they would fare if current health reform proposals pass.
All Coverage
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Opponents Try To Undo Health Bill Deals
While top members of the House and Senate are struggling to put together health care overhaul bills on Capitol Hill, elsewhere in Washington, patient advocates and other groups are trying to take apart some of the deals already cut with top health care industry groups.
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As Congress Moves To Cut Medicare Advantage Funding, Some Seniors Could Get Reprieve
The Senate Finance Committee calls for cuts in private Medicare plans to help pay for health reform. Some senators on the panel, worried about the 10.5 million seniors in the plans
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Opinion Column
Attacking Dartmouth Atlas Is Off-Target
Trying to discredit the Dartmouth data is a distraction from the real work that’s needed to understand and remedy the extraordinary amount of money spent on care that does not appear to make a difference in health.
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Public Option Short On Democratic Votes In Senate
It’s not clear how many Democrats would back a public option – a government insurance program that competes with private insurers – in the final health overhaul bill.
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Drug Coupons Hide True Costs Of Medicines From Consumers
Pharmaceutical companies have found a way around higher insurance copays for brand-name drugs. They offer coupon cards so patients don’t have to pay more. But insurance companies say that if everyone uses the cards to get pricier name-brand drugs, premiums will rise. This story comes from our partner NPR News
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Advocates Urge Action Now To ‘Fix’ Medicare Doctor Payments
Legislation to ‘fix’ Medicare’s formula for physician payments is stalled in the Senate with opposition mounting to the fact that the bill comes with a hefty cost, but no plan to pay its price tag.
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Congress Wrestles With Yearly Medicare Fee Cuts
Medicare payments to doctors are scheduled to be cut more than 20 percent on Jan. 1, which could lead many doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients altogether. To stop the cuts, Congress must find a way to offset the estimated $245 billion cost over 10 years. This story comes from our partner NPR News
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Baucus Doubts Public Option Can Get 60 Votes In Senate
Although negotiators are considering various forms of a public option as they try to meld health overhaul bills approved by two Senate panels, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., says it’s unlikely the Senate would approve major legislation this year that includes a pure form of the controversial government-operated insurance program.
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Health On The Hill – Transcript
KHN’s Eric Pianin and NPR’s Julie Rovner discuss recent and upcoming activities on the Hill — part of a weekly series of video reports.
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Health On The Hill
KHN’s Eric Pianin and NPR’s Julie Rovner discuss recent and upcoming activities on the Hill — part of a weekly series of video reports.
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Opinion Column
What the Insurance Industry Got Right
Buried inside the insurers’ new piece of propaganda were two perfectly valid arguments–arguments that advocates of reform would be foolish to ignore.
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Lawmakers to Fight for Rural Hospitals Despite Budget Concerns On Reform
The finances of Hillsboro Medical Center in North Dakota improved after it got a “critical access” designation. Sens. Conrad, D-N.D., Wyden, D-Ore., Pryor, D-Ark., and Brownback, R-Kan., want to make it easier for other rural hospitals to get the designation as part of health reform.
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Health Care Overhaul Rests On Senator Harry Reid
Majority Leader Harry Reid has been the Democrats’ top man in the Senate for nearly five years. But his leadership skills are soon to be tested as he presides over merging the two very different health care overhaul bills. The task has prompted remarks like, “Is he Harry Reid or Harry Houdini?”
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Opinion Column
Insurance Industry Makes Its Case For A Public Option
After months of publicly supporting health care reform, America’s Health Insurance Plans
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Generic Drug Makers Say ‘No’ To Health Reform Tab
Makers of generic drugs say it’s unfair to make them pay $460 million to help fund health care overhaul legislation. They warn consumer prices could rise if Congress approves the 10 years of increased Medicaid discounts included in the bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday.
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What Will Make It Into The Final Senate Health Bill?
As Senate Democrats begin to merge the chamber’s two health care overhaul bills, fundamental questions remain – such as whether to include a public option and individual mandate. This story comes from our partner NPR News.
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Selling Sickness: How Drug Ads Changed Health Care
Prescription drug spending is the third most expensive cost in the U.S. health care system. The average American gets 12 prescriptions a year, and this number only seems to grow larger. We examine what drove the increase in prescription drug consumption in America. This story comes from our partner NPR News
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Proposed Tax Rattles Orthopedic Device Industry
People are worried in towns like Warsaw, Ind., considered the “orthopedic device manufacturing capital” of the world. The industry is fighting the $4 billion-a-year tax included in the Senate Finance Committee bill to help pay for health reform.
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Finance Committee Approves Health Reform Bill, Snowe Sides With Democrats
With the support of a lone Republican, Olympia Snowe, the Senate Finance Committee approved a bill that would assure that most Americans would have access to health insurance, end discriminatory insurance industry practices and impose a tax on high-costhealth care plans. The bill will now be combined with the HELP Committee’s bill before a full Senate vote.
