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Senators prepare for upcoming health reform battles

The Wall Street Journal reports that, in a party-line vote Saturday night, "Democratic leaders finally moved their sweeping health bill to the Senate floor, where wheeling and dealing over major unresolved and divisive issues likely will shape the legislation before its next big test." Some centrists are busy saying they won't support a bill with a government-run public option in it. They are also divided over abortion.

23 Nov 2009

DNC Chairman applauds Senators for commencing debate on health insurance reform bill

"Today, the Senate took another historic step on the road to enacting health insurance reform. By clearing this first procedural hurdle, senators will now have an opportunity to debate the health reform bill on the Senate floor and continue to make progress on delivering health insurance reform to the American people.

23 Nov 2009

AARP hosts educational forum to address nation's health care system

With the U.S. House of Representatives passing the landmark Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962), and the Senate moving key health reform legislation forward, Congress has taken decisive steps to fix our nation's broken health care system.

23 Nov 2009

Senate health reform bill passes first key floor test

Roll Call: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scored a major victory Saturday night by persuading all 60 members of the Democratic Conference to vote to bring his $848 billion health care reform bill up for debate.

22 Nov 2009

On the health bill, Senate Democratic leaders finally hit number 60

The Washington Post: "Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) declared Saturday she will support a key procedural step to advance President Obama's health-care legislation." During a Senate floor speech earlier this afternoon, Landrieu said she would support the motion to begin debate on the health bill, "ending days of silence on the matter" (Kane, 11/21).

22 Nov 2009

NADP: Americans with family dental coverage can keep their current dental plan

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid's health reform bill fulfills the promise that more than 132 million Americans with family dental coverage can keep their current dental plan without disrupting established dentist-patient relationships, according to the National Association of Dental Plans.

21 Nov 2009

Senate health care bill an "enormous disappointment": U.S. bishops

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the Senate to make essential changes its health reform bill in order to keep in place federal law on abortion funding and conscience protection on abortion, protect access to health care for immigrants and include strong provisions for adequate affordability.

21 Nov 2009

Three in four Americans need long term health care, says health insurance expert

Long term care insurance may not seem like headline news or talk-show fare, but Denise Gott pursues the topic with passion and flair. "I'm on a mission to wake up America," she says. Her message is now appearing on CNN newscasts in the nation's airports and broadcasts on Delta Air Line flights. Gott is Chairman of the Board of LTC Financial Partners LLC (LTCFP) -- http://www.ltcfp.com -- one of the nation's largest and most experienced long-term care insurance agencies.

21 Nov 2009

New health-reform bill violates Americans' health-insurance choices and privacy, says IHF

The Senate's newly released health-reform bill ("Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act") infringes on Americans' health-insurance choices and medical privacy, says Sue Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom (IHF) -- a patients' rights group in Washington, D.C.

21 Nov 2009

PhRMA reaffirms its commitment to support the health reform

POLITICO recently published an editorial by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Senior Vice President Ken Johnson. In the editorial, Johnson makes the case for health reform and reaffirm's PhRMA's commitment to supporting this historic effort.

21 Nov 2009

American Academy of Actuaries urge Senators to strengthen individual mandate in the health reform bill

The American Academy of Actuaries is urging senators to modify health care reform legislation released this week to contain stronger language regarding a health insurance individual coverage mandate. The actuaries said that an effective and enforceable mandate will minimize adverse selection stemming from more restrictive issue and rating rules prescribed by the bill.

21 Nov 2009

Lawmakers at health reform crossroads

As Senate health bill consideration approaches a critical point, Majority Leader Harry Reid has taken ownership of it, The New York Times reports. "Should Mr. Reid shepherd the measure successfully through the Senate and meld it with the House version into final legislation that President Obama can sign, it would be the biggest accomplishment of his career." If he fails it would be a hard defeat for Democrats and him, especially when he faces a tough re-election campaign at home in Nevada (Hulse, 11/19).

20 Nov 2009

It's Saturday night for Senate test vote on health reform

The New York Times: "The Senate is expected to vote Saturday on whether to take up the legislation. The majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, refused to say Thursday whether he had the 60 votes needed to clear that procedural hurdle."

20 Nov 2009

Policy flashpoints fuel reform debate

Kaiser Health News: "The health care overhaul debate in Congress now centers on two bills: the House-passed measure and the Senate Democrats' version unveiled Wednesday. They differ in important ways." KHN provides a consumers' guide that discusses mandates, new regulations on health insurers and how the legislation would affect both the insured and uninsured (Appleby, Carey, Galewitz and Rau, 11/19).

20 Nov 2009

Olbermann ties free clinics to health reform

"A nonprofit group's campaign to hold free medical clinics for the uninsured in three states is turning into a not-so-subtle jab at moderate Democrats to support their party's efforts to reform health care," The Associated Press reports. "More than 800 people have signed up for free care Saturday at a downtown convention center in Little Rock at an event organized by the National Association of Free Clinics — the Virginia-based association's second free event in the past month under a campaign promoted by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann."

20 Nov 2009

Health policy research roundup

Urban Institute: Progress Enrolling Children in Medicaid/CHIP: Who Is Left And What Are The Prospects For Covering More Children? - This policy brief examines the characteristics of the estimated 5 million uninsured children who are eligible for CHIP/Medicaid in 2007 (64 percent of all uninsured children; 88 percent of all low-income uninsured children), but not enrolled.

20 Nov 2009

NORD letter conveys support for passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

On behalf of the 150 member organizations of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) representing nearly 30 million patients and families afflicted with one of the 7,000 known rare diseases, we are writing to convey our strong support for passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

20 Nov 2009

Tax on cosmetic surgery opposed by AACS

As negotiators on Capitol Hill try to find ways to fund a health care overhaul, a 5% tax on cosmetic surgery has been introduced on Nov. 18 as part of the Senate's proposed health reform bill, introduced by US Senator Harry Reid (D-NV).

19 Nov 2009

Reid tries to balance many interests in Senate health bill

Kaiser Health News staff writers Mary Agnes Carey and Phil Galewitz write about last night's big news. "In one of the most anticipated events in the health reform debate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tonight released the bill expected to go to the Senate floor. Reid added new taxes and modified major provisions of health bills passed by two Senate panels in his quest to meet President Barack Obama's target of health legislation that would cost less than $900 billion and win 60 votes in the Senate" (11/18).

19 Nov 2009

A selection of today's opinions and editorials

Everyone has been trying to come up with a good nickname for the 10 years we're concluding next month. Terror Era really sounds like too much of a downer. How about the Decade of Medical Backtracking? Somewhere between the reports that Pap smears and tests for prostate cancer aren't all they were cracked up to be and the news that a high fiber diet doesn't do anything to prevent cancer, the health establishment began looking decidedly nonomniscient. Then this week, a federal task force reported that most women don't need annual mammograms (Gail Collins, 11/18).

19 Nov 2009