First Edition: January 20, 2010

The G.O.P. claims the Massachusetts Senate seat and sends Dems scrambling to salvage their health overhaul effort.

KHN Column: Give Nurses A Bigger Role In Improving Health Care In a column for Kaiser Health News, Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, writes the following: "Skilled health provider. Sympathetic caregiver. Trusted dispenser of medicines. Capable interpreter of complicated medical instructions. Coordinator of care. Triage expert. All those phrases describe the roles nurses play in our health care system, but it's just a part of the story. Nurses also are uniquely positioned to help reduce medical errors, increase access to health care, manage and improve care coordination, identify ways to contain costs, and much more (Kaiser Health News).

Republican Wins Massachusetts Senate Race In a stunning blow to Democrats, Republican Scott Brown on Tuesday seized the Massachusetts Senate seat once held by Edward M. Kennedy, handing the GOP the crucial vote that could thwart President Obama's far-reaching agenda, beginning with healthcare reform (Los Angeles Times).

G.O.P. Senate Victory Stuns Democrats The election left Democrats in Congress scrambling to salvage a bill overhauling the nation's health care system, which the late Mr. Kennedy had called "the cause of my life." Mr. Brown has vowed to oppose the bill, and once he takes office the Democrats will no longer control the 60 votes in the Senate needed to overcome filibusters (The New York Times).

GOP Victory Upends Senate A little-known Republican shook up the balance of power in Washington by winning a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts, a result that imperils President Barack Obama's top legislative priorities and points to trouble for his party in this year's elections. … The Brown victory forces the White House and congressional leaders to decide how—or whether—to salvage their long-sought health-care overhaul. Rushing the bill after losing Massachusetts carries political risks. So does letting it collapse (The Wall Street Journal).

Jobs, Health Care, Mistakes Created Toxic Political Climate The spectacle of Democrats imperiled in a Senate race in Massachusetts, of all places, raises a host of intriguing questions, but they can be boiled down to one: How did it come to this? (The Wall Street Journal).

Democrats Ponder Health-Care Reform Plans In Wake Of Massachusetts Senate Race Unless Democrats can thread a very narrow legislative needle, Republican Scott Brown's upset victory over Martha Coakley in Massachusetts on Tuesday could lead to the collapse of a health-care bill that, only weeks ago, appeared close to becoming law (The Washington Post).

Democrats Ponder Triage On Health Care Congressional Democrats faced only unpalatable options for salvaging their health-care overhaul after Republicans clinched the additional Senate vote they need to thwart the legislation—a turn that had some Democrats suggesting they abandon the health effort (The Wall Street Journal).

The Fallout: Democrats Rethinking Health Care Bill Republican Scott Brown's upset win in Massachusetts Tuesday threatened to derail any hopes of passing a health reform bill this year, as the White House and Democratic leaders faced growing resistance from rank-and-file members to pressing ahead with a bill following the Bay State backlash (Politico).

Dem Leaders Scramble To Save Healthcare Reform After Brown Win Democratic leaders are scrambling to save healthcare reform legislation in the wake of a shocking Republican victory for the Senate seat held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (The Hill).

Mass Election Results Could Change Healthcare-Reform Calculus Even before the final Massachusetts election results are counted, this Senate race is revising Democrats' strategies for pushing healthcare legislation through the US Congress (The Christian Science Monitor).

With 60th Vote Gone, A Search For A New Strategy Republican Scott Brown's victory has deprived President Obama and his party of the crucial 60th Senate vote they were counting on to pass a sweeping overhaul of the US health care system in the coming weeks, sending Democratic leaders racing to devise an emergency alternative strategy and creating the very real possibility the effort could collapse (The Boston Globe).

Senate Defeat Means Democrats Need A New Strategy The Democratic Party's defeat in Massachusetts on Tuesday -- the loss of a single, crucial Senate seat -- will force President Obama and his congressional allies to downscale their legislative ambitions and rethink their political strategy. The most immediate challenge facing Democrats after Republican Scott Brown's victory is how to salvage healthcare legislation now that they no longer have the 60 votes needed to break GOP filibusters (Los Angeles Times).

Exit Poll: Health Care Mattered Scott Brown's opposition to congressional health care legislation was the most important issue that fueled his U.S. Senate victory in Massachusetts, according to exit poll data collected following the Tuesday special election (Politico).

Economic Scene: Centrist, And Yet Not Unified The stunning victory of Scott Brown, the Massachusetts Republican who will have Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat, suggests that public opinion has turned against the [health reform] proposal. It's hard to know exactly how Democrats will respond. But given the sudden uncertainty over health reform's fate, this does seem to be an important time to boil down its substance (The New York Times).

Business Is Booming For Big Drug Negotiators If your health insurance covers prescriptions, you are probably a customer of a pharmacy benefit management company. These are third-party administrators for prescription drug programs, and they make up one of the few industries growing during this recession (NPR).