The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Small companies, who traditionally have been wary of government action on health care, are more receptive than in the past to legislation that would make changes in health care. But they still have fundamental disagreements over how aggressive the government should be in imposing new rules and revamping the system.
Some CEOs of America’s largest health care providers called Friday for an end to fee-for-service payments under Medicare and incentives to create administrative efficiencies to lower costs to help pay for America’s try at health care reform.
As Congress searches for funds to pay for health legislation, flexible spending accounts, which allow consumers to use pre-tax dollars to pay for medical bills, emerge as a possible source. The result is a renewed debate over whether the accounts are a legitimate way to help people cover costs or are a tax shelter for the affluent.
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.
The White House provided a transcript of President Barack Obama’s town hall meeting on health care today at Southwest High School in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
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.
After decades of effort, the enactment of universal health insurance coverage is actually in sight.
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.
There’s a brewing controversy over the effect a government-run “public” health insurance plan would have on private insurers. Critics say that 119 million people would lose private insurance if such a plan went into effect. But people who did the study say that’s not the whole picture.
Women of color in America are 11 times more likely than their white counterparts to contract AIDS, according to a study released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
President Obama is promising fiscal conservatives in Congress that health reform won’t be financed by deficit spending. He needs the support of moderate and conservative Democrats who are wary of a vast expansion of government-underwritten health care. Strict new budget rules may help persuade skeptics that a health care system overhaul is affordable.
Surgeon and author Atul Gawande’s recent article in The New Yorker is generating intense discussion about the cost of medicine and exerting a powerful influence over the health reform debate.
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.
