- Democrats seeks other options to push reform through if MA voters elect Scott Brown http://bit.ly/8Rsnb5
- Massachusetts: Pollsters that accurately predicted NJ Governor’s race have Scott Brown up by 5 points over... http://bit.ly/7wC0hn
- Massachusetts: Pollsters that accurately predicated NJ Governor’s race have Scott Brown up by 5 points over Martha... http://bit.ly/5XMEmw
In The News
Health care is in the news. Keep up to date with the latest news and opinion regarding the evolving debate on health care reform.
Former NIH Director Dr. Bernadine Healy discusses Health Care Reform's "Sneaky kind of Rationing"
Health 'Reform' Gets a Failing Grade
Monday, November 17, 2009
By Jeffrey S. Flier, Dean of Harvard Medical School
Wall Street Journal
Even more offensive to the Chamber and the NFIB than the public option is the House bill's "employer mandate," which would require businesses to not only provide coverage to workers, but also shoulder substantial portions of the premiums or pay a penalty to the government. The NFIB warns that an employer mandate will destroy small-business growth and lead to the loss of as many as 1 million small-business jobs. But in making such dire claims, they appear to be ignoring a crucial detail: under the House bill, the vast majority of small businesses--those with annual payrolls less than $500,000, meaning more than 80% of all companies--would be exempt from these new rules.
Report: Bill would reduce senior care
Medicare cuts approved by House may affect access to providers
Sunday, November 15, 2009By Lori Montgomery
The Washington Post
A plan to slash more than $500 billion from future Medicare spending--one of the biggest sources of funding for President Obama's proposed overhaul of the nation's health-care system--would sharply reduce benefits for some senior citizens and could jeopardize access to care for millions of others, according to a government evaluation released Saturday...
Congress could intervene to avoid such an outcome, but "so doing would likely result in significantly smaller actual savings" than is currently projected, according to the analysis by the chief actuary for the agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid. That would wipe out a big chunk of the financing for the health-care reform package, which is projected to cost $1.05 trillion over the next decade.
Why Small Business Groups Oppose the Health Bills
The changes proposed by Congress will require more draconian measures down the road. Just look at Massachusetts.
Friday, November 13, 2009
By Kate Pickert
TIMESpeeches and news reports can lead you to believe that proposed congressional legislation would tackle the problems of cost, access and quality. But that's not true. The various bills do deal with access by expanding Medicaid and mandating subsidized insurance at substantial cost--and thus addresses an important social goal. However, there are no provisions to substantively control the growth of costs or raise the quality of care. So the overall effort will fail to qualify as reform.
What Health Reform Will Do to My Insurance
Thursday, November 12, 2009
By Andrew R. Heinze
Wall Street JournalI'm a registered Democrat living in New York City, and I buy my own health insurance. But now, having seen the health-care reform bill that passed the House, I'm preparing for life without health insurance. And unless I'm the only person covered under the Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield "Tradition Plus" plan, a lot of other people will end up just like me, uninsured.
I will gain one thing, though--an annual fine for losing my insurance. The exact amount of that fine isn't clear yet, but so far it looks like I'll be paying about the same amount—$2,000 a year--or having no insurance as I do now for having it.
Time to stop all the bickering and deliver for Americans
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
By Sen. Joseph Lieberman
OpEd in The Miami HeraldBut as we emerge from the worst recession since the Great Depression, we cannot forget that our health care problem is inexorably linked to our broader economic problems and, in particular, our out-of-control national debt...
A new public option will likely increase premiums for the 170 million Americans who already have private insurance, and let's not forget the warning of the Congressional Budget Office: that the federal government will assume the financial risk that the premiums charged in a given year may not cover all of the public plan's costs.
Given our exorbitant debt and deficit, the taxpayers cannot afford to take on the financial responsibility to pay the difference, which would threaten to put our country even deeper into debt, just when we need to start thinking about how to climb out.
The Worst Bill Ever
Epic new spending and taxes, pricier insurance, rationed care, dishonest accounting: The Pelosi health bill has it all.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Editorial
Wall Street JournalAs Congress's balance sheet drowns in trillions of dollars in new obligations, the political system will have no choice but to start making cost-minded decisions about which treatments patients are allowed to receive. Democrats can't regulate their way out of the reality that we live in a world of finite resources and infinite wants. Once health care is nationalized, or mostly nationalized, medical rationing is inevitable—especially for the innovative high-cost technologies and drugs that are the future of medicine.