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Views on Medicare debate: Krugman skewers Ryan's budget plan; WSJ says Obama setting a double standard

On the spending side, Mr. Ryan proposes huge cuts in Medicaid, turning it over to the states while sharply reducing funding relative to projections under current policy. That saves around $800 billion. He proposes similar harsh cuts in food stamps, saving a further $130 billion or so, plus a grab-bag of other cuts, such as reduced aid to college students.

21 Aug 2012

Roundup: Abortion cases against Kan. Planned Parenthood dropped; Maine Readies session on money owed hospitals; Calif. suing doc over billing practices

The first criminal prosecution of Planned Parenthood came to an abrupt end Friday when Kansas prosecutors dropped all charges against a local affiliate accused of failing to determine the viability of fetuses before abortions were performed. ... They said that state law did not prohibit Planned Parenthood from using the gestational age of fetuses to determine whether they were viable or could survive outside of the womb.

21 Aug 2012

Ryan's positions on women's issues becomes campaign target

Politico reports on how Rep. Paul Ryan's record on reproductive issues -- including co-sponosring a "personhood amendment" that would declare a fertilized egg to be a person, and voting to defund Planned Parenthood -- could widen President Barack Obama's lead among women. Meanwhile, a controversial comment about rape by a GOP candidate running for Senate in Missouri has stirred anger and angst.

20 Aug 2012

Presidential campaign keeps focus on Medicare

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and his running-mate pick Paul Ryan are taking their Medicare message to New Hampshire today. Meanwhile, President Obama blasts the Republican ticket on its Medicare plan.

20 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 20, 2012

Today's headlines focus on how the Medicare story is continuing to unfold on the presidential campaign trail.

20 Aug 2012

Obama and Romney offer competing Medicare visions

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney broke out a whiteboard outside an air terminal to illustrate his key points. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama's campaign launched a new ad to argue his approach strengthens the program, citing plaudits from the seniors group AARP.

18 Aug 2012

Democrats unleash Medicare attack ads in congressional races

Ads from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are being run against Rep. Dan Benishek of Michigan and North Carolina state Sen. David Rouzer, the Republican opponent of Rep. Mike McIntyre.

18 Aug 2012

Polls: Opposition to changing Medicare cuts across party lines

Two polls, one conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, and another conducted by KFF and the Washington Post, find that a majority of Republicans and Democrats oppose plans to cut Medicare benefits or transform the program into a "definied-contribution" model.

18 Aug 2012

Ryan pressed on $716 billion, 10-year Medicare cut

Romney criticizes those reductions in the future growth of Medicare, which were put in place by the 2010 health law. But his running mate, Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan, is put on the spot by reporters about why he included those same reductions in his budget proposals, which were passed twice by the House.

18 Aug 2012

Views on Medicare feud: Both sides working toward cuts; If vouchers aren't the answer, what is?

Americans who don't count themselves confused by the current debate over Medicare must be in the minority. Mitt Romney and Republican running mate Rep. Paul D. Ryan accused President Obama of hurting seniors by cutting $716 billion from the federal health program. The president retorts that the Republicans would "end Medicare as we know it." The truth is that both sides have plans that dramatically change the nearly half-century-old program.

18 Aug 2012

State news: Tenn. abortion clinic closes; Tex. wrestles with funding for Women's Health Program; Mich. lawmakers pass bill to cut state share of teachers' health care

A Knoxville abortion provider has closed after 38 years, citing a newly enacted Tennessee law that requires doctors to hold admitting privileges at local hospitals. The Volunteer Women's Medical Clinic in Knoxville closed Friday. In a public letter titled "End of an Era," Executive Director Deb Walsh wrote that she was unable to keep their doors open in part due to the "Life Defense Act," which requires physicians to obtain admitting privileges at area hospitals.

18 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 17, 2012

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Jenny Gold reports on a new survey about accountable care organizations: "Few hospitals interested in becoming accountable care organizations are ready to take on financial risk, according to a survey released Friday from The Commonwealth Fund."

17 Aug 2012

Parsing Medicare policy and politics

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's promise to restore the Medicare cuts made by President Obama's health care law would move the insolvency date of the program closer, reports The Associated Press. Other news outlets examine the Medicare policy specifics that Rep. Paul Ryan, the likely GOP vice presidential pick, has advanced in his House budget proposals.

17 Aug 2012

Ryan sees Medicare issue as opportunity

Paul Ryan addressed Medicare in a stump speech for the first time, saying the debate is one "we will win." But Vice President Joe Biden offered a very different view of the Republicans' Medicare plan, calling it a "voucher system."

17 Aug 2012

Top-of-the-ticket sparring focuses on Medicare

In a Wednesday campaign appearance, President Barack Obama and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney went on the attack, trading barbs over the Medicare program. For Romney, it included taking steps to distance himself from the ideas advanced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Paul Ryan, his pick for running mate.

17 Aug 2012

A view from the field: How Medicare is playing in congressional, Senate races

From Texas to Connecticut, members of Congress and their challengers are pressing their views on the federal health program for seniors.

17 Aug 2012

Congressional leaders plan to make the most of this election-year Medicare debate

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, urged his fellow Republicans to "play offense" on the issue while their Democratic counterparts plan to keep the heat on.

17 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Public seeks better campaigns but politicians use 'schoolyard rules;' GOP's Medicare 'flip-flops'

Political ads often stretch facts to the breaking point, but the people who create them usually feel constrained to back up their claims by citing sources - at least enough to keep neutral fact-checkers from exposing their work as fiction. Not so in this year's presidential campaign. There's no nice way to say this: President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are both condoning deliberate falsehoods.

17 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 16, 2012

In this Kaiser Health News video, Insuring Your Health columnist Michelle Andrews answers a reader question about what you can do when insurance only covers a portion of an ambulance bill.

16 Aug 2012

Medicare politics by the numbers?

The budget plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., assumed the same amount of Medicare savings as President Obama's health care law. News outlets report that both presidential campaigns are accusing the other of undermining the insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and attempt to separate fact from fiction.

16 Aug 2012