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Health care experts examine top performing, low cost communities

Talk about health care reform efforts has focused largely on all that is wrong with the current system. In contrast, an event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., examined best practices in ten top performing communities where they spend less and have better quality of care.

22 Jul 2009

Small businesses fear reform could worsen rising health costs

"Many small businesses are worried that rising health insurance costs are choking their growth and hindering the creation of new companies, and they fear health care reform plans being debated in Congress and by the Obama administration could end up costing them even more in taxes, according to business advocates," the Baltimore Sun reports.

22 Jul 2009

Massachusetts proposal to end fee-for-service could be national model

A proposal in Massachusetts to end the practice of paying doctors for individual procedures could prove a model to hold down costs for U.S. health care reform, Reuters reports.

22 Jul 2009

American confidence in access to care is growing

"Americans are showing more confidence in their ability to get and afford the health care they need, according to a poll released Tuesday," The Associated Press reports on Cleveland.com.

22 Jul 2009

Schering Plough’s CMO ‘very concerned’ about Obama’s healthcare reform agenda

Robert Spiegel, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP), the global science-based healthcare company, says he is "very concerned" that changes to the healthcare system by the Obama administration could affect public health.

22 Jul 2009

Obama continues pressing health reform, but softens on the deadline

President Barack Obama in remarks on Monday called out critics of his push for health reform and softened his timeline talk, The Associated Press reports.

20 Jul 2009

Steele assails "experimentation" in Obama's health reform effort

"The chairman of the Republican Party on Monday accused President Barack Obama of conducting 'risky experimentation' with his health care proposals, saying they will hurt the economy and force millions to drop their current coverage, The Associated Press reports.

20 Jul 2009

Key Senate panel struggles to reach consensus

"The Senate Finance Committee, which is seeking a bipartisan compromise, has failed to reach an agreement" on health care reform, Bloomberg reports, "even as two House committees and a Senate panel cleared their versions of the legislation with only Democratic approval."

20 Jul 2009

House face-off looms over sweeping health bill

House Democrats, who last week touted their health overhaul bill after it passed two of three committees have fight on their hands this week.

20 Jul 2009

Obama readies stronger hand on health reform, plans meetings with players

The next two weeks of a health reform fight may prove pivotal for President Barack Obama's image and his ability to use his popularity to get things done, The Washington Post reports.

20 Jul 2009

Taking positions: Some docs, businesses cheer while others oppose effort

As advocacy groups with a stake in health reform take positions in the health reform debate, their battle lines don't necessarily observe the boundaries of a given sector, industry or professional affiliation. "Business is far from unified in its lobbying efforts for health-care reform," McClatchy/Chicago Tribune reports. "The disparity dilutes its power and may contribute to a plan no faction wants -- or no plan at all."

20 Jul 2009

Obama administration silent on San Francisco health insurance ordinance

"As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to consider a restaurant group's challenge to San Francisco's health coverage ordinance, one voice is noticeably silent: the Obama administration's," The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

20 Jul 2009

Insurers join public debate with new ad campaign

The insurance industry so far has "stayed at the bargaining table and held its fire in the ad wars," but "now, the industry is speaking up, not with an attack but with a seven-figure, national cable TV ad buy starting Monday in favor of affordable bipartisan health reform that can cover everyone," Politico reports.

20 Jul 2009

Small businesses, doctors voice concerns about health reform

"Small business is suddenly playing a big role in negotiations over health care," NPR reports. "Supporters and opponents of various plans to overhaul the system are all trying to paint themselves as champions of mom and pop entrepreneurs."

20 Jul 2009

Efforts to 'fix' Medicare payments at center of reform

The Wall Street Journal reports: "A plan to end a program that would cut government payments to doctors is emerging as the flash point in the debate over whether President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the health system would increase the federal budget deficit.

20 Jul 2009

Health overhaul issues fill the Sunday talk shows

The Associated Press reports: "President Barack Obama's advisers are urging critics of their health care overhaul to wait for Congress to finish writing legislation before issuing verdicts. They also signaled they are willing to wait longer than their White House-imposed August deadline for action if it means they can sway wary lawmakers.

20 Jul 2009

With pressure building, Baucus, Reid weigh in on timeline

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Thursday that it is possible his committee could have a bipartisan deal by the end of the day, Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal reports (Yoest, 7/16).

16 Jul 2009

Senate panel advances health-care overhaul, but battle lines sharpen

"President Obama's ambitious drive to overhaul the nation's $2.3 trillion health-care system cleared a key Senate committee yesterday. But the administration was promptly buffeted by criticism from some of the industry players and moderate Democrats it has courted for months, calling into question the prospects for a bipartisan landmark bill," The Washington Post reports.

16 Jul 2009

House Committees prepare for votes on health reform bill

Votes are planned Thursday in the House Education and Labor and Ways and Means committees on a $1.5 trillion plan to overhaul the nation's health care system, The Associated Press reports.

16 Jul 2009

Obama presses lawmakers on health reform

In President Obama's push for health reform, "new fault lines are opening up everywhere you look. Liberals are worried that Obama is going squishy on including a strong, government-run 'public option' among the health-care choices available to Americans.

16 Jul 2009