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First Edition: January 28, 2010

It's the morning after the State of the Union address. What's the state of health reform?

28 Jan 2010

Virgin HealthMiles announces significant annual growth in 2009

Virgin HealthMiles, a leading provider of employee health and productivity programs that reward individuals for getting healthy, today announced significant annual growth in 2009, with a 30 percent year-over-year increase in new clients and a 163 percent year-over-year growth in the number of eligible program members.

28 Jan 2010

NCHC Action Fund calls for redoubling efforts to enact comprehensive health system reform

The effort to fix our dysfunctional, inequitable and unsustainable health system is at a crucial juncture. Without prompt and decisive leadership, defeat, as it has for over a century, will again prevail over reform.

28 Jan 2010

Survey: Health care reform would lead to higher costs for employer-sponsored benefit programs

A significant majority of U.S. employers believe health care reform, if enacted, would lead to higher costs for both employer-sponsored benefit programs and health care services overall, according to initial results from an employer survey conducted by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health.

28 Jan 2010

Researchers urge for a national health trust for personal and public health

The United States has an inefficient and expensive health care system, but it could be improved with a new integrated health care system detailed in a new study in the American Journal of Public Health (February 2010 Vol. 100 No. 2).

28 Jan 2010

Pelosi on health reform: 'We will make every effort'

The Washington Post / Reuters: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said today that abandoning health care reform was not a possibility. "'Let's put it this way. The present (healthcare) system is unsustainable. We can no longer afford it ... We will make every effort to have a health care bill. But we will make progress, whatever it is, one way or the other, we will go forward with that'" (Maler, 1/27).

28 Jan 2010

Obama to Congress: 'Don't walk away' from health reform

The Associated Press: "His health care remake near collapse, President Barack Obama on Wednesday implored lawmakers not to abandon a historic opportunity even as he accepted part of the blame for failing to sell the complex plan to average Americans ... Obama defended his ambitious proposal, saying it would protect most Americans from being rejected for insurance if they get sick, preserve choice of doctors, bring down the federal deficit and provide affordable coverage for millions now uninsured" (Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/27).

27 Jan 2010

Experts duel on plight of health reform and merits of specific provisions

NPR interviewed two leading health care experts - Uwe Reinhardt, a Princeton professor, and Gail Wilensky, an economist who ran Medicare under the first President Bush - to shed light on the current plight of pending health care overhaul.

27 Jan 2010

Democrats shun health reform deadlines as they await state of the union

Democrats Tuesday backed away from setting or adhering to a health overhaul timeline "saying they no longer felt pressure to move quickly on a health bill after eight months of setting deadlines and missing them," The New York Times reports.

27 Jan 2010

First Edition: January 27, 2010

Both Democrats' congressional confusion about how to proceed with health reform and voter angst about the direction of the country will play roles in what President Obama says in tonight's State of the Union address.

27 Jan 2010

State of the Union address: Obama to squeeze in health reform around jobs, economy issues

President Barack Obama's upcoming State of the Union address will focus on jobs and the economy, but in addition to those issues, the president will likely continue his push for health care reform, The Boston Globe reports. Administration officials said Sunday that the president would "continue pressing Congress to complete its yearlong effort to enact health care legislation.

27 Jan 2010

White House mulling limits on scope of proposed health overhaul

The Wall Street Journal: "The White House, with its health-care initiative in doubt, on Sunday zeroed in on several elements it hoped would survive, including measures to extend the life of Medicare, lower prescription drug costs for seniors and cap consumers' out-of-pocket medical expenses."

27 Jan 2010

Innovative Alaska Health Plan outperforms many others in lower 48

Kaiser Health News reports on Alaska's Southcentral Foundation.

27 Jan 2010

Lawmakers sound off on health bill: Pascrell, Mccain, Durbin, Hatch and Murphy

Rep. Bill Pascrell [D-N.J.] has called fellow Democrats 'arrogant' and referred to a key party talking point as 'BS.' He slammed deals cut by leadership and special interests and said, 'We're not going to accept that any longer.' Agitated and unfiltered, Pascrell has become the guy who's not afraid to go public with what many rank-and-file House Democrats have been saying behind closed doors.

27 Jan 2010

GOP lawmaker set to release health care 'declaration'

Republicans are seeking consensus on health care now that Democrats can no longer go it alone, having lost their filibuster-proof 60-vote Senate majority, NPR reports. Senior Republicans are "shopping around" policy ideas they say everyone could agree with "off the bat," including a cap on certain malpractice damages and allowing insurers to sell plans across state lines. But, some observers note that even when they were in the majority, Republicans failed to agree even on those issues (Rovner, 1/26).

27 Jan 2010

Health companies adapt to diminished likelihood of health reform

Some health executives are still calling for reform in the wake of Scott Brown's upset in the Massachusetts Senate race last week that undermined Democratic efforts to advance health reform, The (Richmond) Virginian-Pilot reports.

27 Jan 2010

Insurance companies increased lobbying by 24 percent in 2009

The Hill reports on insurer lobbying spending in 2009: "America's largest insurance companies spent millions more on lobbying last year as lawmakers debated healthcare reform, lobbying disclosure records show.

27 Jan 2010

Obama acknowledges mistakes in health overhaul politics and processes

President Barack Obama acknowledged Monday in an interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer that mistakes were made in the health reform debate, among the biggest "was the confusing way in which the health bill was shaped." Obama said: "'I think the healthcare debate as it unfolded legitimately raised concerns not just among my opponents, but also amongst reporters that we just don't know what's going on,' and that some 'stray cats' got in the bill." Obama also said he "didn't make a bunch of deals" and "I am happy to own up to the fact that I have not changed Congress and how it operates the way I would have liked" (Mooney, 1/25).

27 Jan 2010

Hoyer: Options to advance health reform have 'pluses and minuses'

The Washington Post / Reuters: In a National Press Club speech today, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., outlined various options including that of not passing a bill. "The Democratic leader said another option would be to try to pass a scaled-backed measure 'that will make modest improvements for Americans, assuming Republicans want to work with us.'

27 Jan 2010