Medical Legislation News and Research

RSS

Democrats divided as Congressional health overhaul efforts stall

Senators working feverishly to pass health reform ahead of Congress' August recess raised doubts Wednesday on whether they will be able to pass reform on schedule, The Boston Globe reports.

9 Jul 2009

Administration officials take health reform reins in Obama's absence

White House staff and administration officials are trying to maintain their visibility on health care reform this week with public events and meetings as President Obama travels, Roll Call reports.

9 Jul 2009

Healthcare reform gets boost from hospital groups

"In the face of mounting Republican opposition to its healthcare agenda, the Obama administration received a boost Wednesday, winning a preliminary agreement with leading hospital groups to cut federal payments to the industry over the next decade," The Los Angeles Times reports.

9 Jul 2009

Legislation includes provisions for healthy lifestyle infrastructure

Sweeping healthcare legislation in Congress includes money for walking paths, streetlights, jungle gyms, and even farmers' markets. While supporters cite their importance for preventative health, critics see the billions of dollars for such provisions in the Senate and House versions as pure pork.

9 Jul 2009

Small business owners deliver mixed messages to Capitol Hill

As more specific legislative language emerges on health care, "small business organizations are encouraging members to make their views known through e-mails, letters, phone calls and personal visits" to members of Congress, but "the message is a decidedly mixed one," Kaiser Health News reports. "Small business, a powerful constituency in every congressional district, no longer speaks with one voice on health care.

9 Jul 2009

Hospitals, after agreeing to cuts, push ahead with a full agenda

With the Obama administration's help, hospitals are moving aggressively to resolve their biggest objections to legislative proposals to overhaul the health system.

8 Jul 2009

Health reform legislation will impact preventive and wellness programs

Reuters reports: "Efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system and expand coverage to millions of uninsured could lead some wellness programs to expand and others to constrict, experts say.... In all of the bills in Congress, insurers would be required to cover some preventive services, and all of the bills include prevention and wellness incentives.

8 Jul 2009

Taxing health benefits lacking Hill support

The idea of taxing health care benefits is proving to be a divisive issue for Democrats as they continue to press forward in health overhaul negotiations.

8 Jul 2009

Obama busy 'selling the greater good' on health reform

President Barack Obama, in comments about health reform, has acknowledged what most Americans already know, that "(w)hat's good for the health care system as a whole often looks very different when it's their own health at stake, or the health of someone in their family," CQPolitics reports.

8 Jul 2009

Thirteen single-payer activists settle their cases after disrupting hearing

Thirteen people charged with "disruption of Congress" for standing and shouting pro-single-payer system slogans during a health care reform committee hearing settled their cases, The Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune reports.

8 Jul 2009

Abortion could prove divisive for health reform, too

An ultimatum against using federal money for abortion procedures could reopen the politically treacherous rift over the issue, creating yet another obstacle for congressional Democrats to overcome if they are to achieve their health reform goals, Time reports.

8 Jul 2009

Health reformers shy from proposals that would limit treatment options

In a story headlined 'In Retooled Health-Care System, Who Will Say No?' the Washington Post reports: "Although Obama and his advisers have held up providers' spending patterns as the crux of the crisis, proposals in Washington go only so far in addressing the thorniest questions about who gets what care."

8 Jul 2009

Senate Democrats eye August timeline, search for savings

Despite some roadblocks, Senate Democrats are trying to hold true to their pledge to pass health care reform legislation by the August recess, Roll Call reports.

7 Jul 2009

Obama administration releases final rules on stem cell research

The Obama administration released final regulations governing stem cell research on Monday. The New York Times reports that the rules will allow many older stem cell lines to be eligible for federally financed research.

7 Jul 2009

Senator Kennedy's absence from health care reform debate looms large

Roll Call reports that lobbyists feel Senator Edward Kennedy's absence: "With the health care reform debate in full tilt, it's fair to assume that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is the key player in producing the final version of the Senate's package.

7 Jul 2009

Need for Federal insurance Czar questioned

"Health care overhaul legislation from President Barack Obama's congressional allies would create a federal insurance czar with sweeping new powers to oversee medical plans nationwide, an idea already drawing fierce criticism," The Associated Press reports. "State insurance commissioners are objecting, saying it would duplicate what they now do without offering any better protection for consumers. Conservatives are calling it a textbook example of a big government mentality."

7 Jul 2009

Small businesses wary of health care legislation

"Rising costs and a weak economy" are leaving small business employees "with higher out-of-pocket health costs," USA Today reports. Those small companies are "exactly what the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had in mind this month when it estimated as many as 15 million people could lose the benefits they currently receive through their jobs under a Democratic proposal to overhaul health care.

30 Jun 2009

California Rulings: State can cut Medi-Cal benefits but not home care wages

"A federal judge on Thursday blocked a $2 hourly wage cut for California in-home care workers that was slated to begin July 1, potentially increasing California's budget deficit by another $98 million," The Sacramento Bee reports.

29 Jun 2009

Critics escalate attacks on health care overhaul

Tensions are showing as health reform continues to be center stage on the President's and Congress' domestic policy agenda.

29 Jun 2009

Is President Obama fighting the last war?

Bill and Hillary Clinton are off saving the world, he through his global foundation and she via the State Department. But their presence looms over the health care debate as surely as if they were running the White House. Their epic failure to pass reform in 1994 has become the defining object lesson in how to botch health care legislation--a lesson President Obama has obviously taken to heart. Push for reform right away; let Congress hash out the details; and, above all, don't threaten people's current insurance arrangements. You can sum up Obama's strategy for health reform as "WWCD": What Wouldn't the Clintons Do.

29 Jun 2009