First Edition: March 8, 2010

Today's headlines highlight how the health reform battle lines continue to take shape as President Obama takes his plan on the road, looking for public support.

Under Health Reform, Medicaid Would Cover Many Childless Adults In this story, produced in collaboration with the Philadelphia Inquirer, reporter Rick Schmitt looks at a part of the proposed Medicaid expansion. Long excluded by Medicaid programs in most states, millions of low-income, childless adults could qualify for coverage under Democratic health overhaul proposals (Kaiser Health News).

How Health Reform Could Affect The 'Young Invincibles' In this story, produced in collaboration with USA Today, Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz writes about how the so-called young invincibles would be impacted by pending health reform proposals. Under the health bills being debated in Congress, young adults would be required to buy insurance - but they could buy low-cost "catastrophic" plans, requiring high deductibles. That's igniting a fierce debate whether young adults — sometimes known as the "young invincibles" — would benefit from such plans (Kaiser Health News).

How Blue Cross Became Part Of A Dysfunctional Health Care System In his latest Kaiser Health News column, done in collaboration with The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes that if the Democrats get their way, Blue Cross companies will have to change their business model, so that they act a bit more like the Blue Cross plans of old--the ones that helped schoolteachers, not stockholders (Kaiser Health News).

A Handy Road Map For The Final Weeks This really is the home stretch in the health care debate. But after 199 laps around the racetrack, it is hard not to feel dizzy, and even a little lost. So here is a handy road map for the next three weeks — a sort of GPS guide to the health care finish line (The New York Times).

Beginning Of The Endgame For Health Care President Obama told Congress this week that the time for debate is over and that he wants a vote by the end of the month. The president said health care deserves a simple up-or-down vote, but by the end of the week, the Democrats still didn't have the votes they needed. NPR National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson updates host Liane Hansen on health care, the Democrats' ethics woes and their latest retirements (NPR).

Healthcare Overhaul Comes Down To Pelosi And Obama The fate of healthcare legislation turns on the endgame skills of two Democrats who bring vastly different assets to the task: President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Los Angeles Times).

President Obama Takes Reform On The Road President Barack Obama is reviving his health care road show Monday, even as he admits every argument has been made and Republicans say voters have already rejected his plan, citing a slew of recent polls (Politico).

Obama To Appeal For Public Support On Health Care With the fate of his signature legislative initiative far from certain, President Barack Obama is taking his last-ditch push for health care reform on the road (The Associated Press).

Democrats Voice Health Bill Doubts Some House Democrats wavering over whether to back a health-care overhaul questioned whether it would effectively curb the country's health costs, highlighting a difficult issue that the White House and congressional leaders must address in the final negotiations on the measure (The Wall Street Journal).

Dems Keep Pressure On Stupak Over Healthcare Bill And Abortion Concerns Abortion continued to loom Sunday as the thorny issue that could paralyze the momentum of healthcare reform efforts in the home stretch (The Hill).

Reconciliation: Why Healthcare Reform 'Nuclear Option' Is Deadly When the word "reconciliation" came up, it was Senator Lindsey Graham's tone more than his words that suggested the political enormity of what might lie ahead in the healthcare reform debate (The Christian Science Monitor).

Former Pa. Senators Look At Earlier Efforts For Health Care Nineteen years ago, Pennsylvania launched the last major effort to change the nation's health care system by electing a little-known Democrat named Harris Wofford to the U.S. Senate with the message: "If you're sick, you should have the right to a doctor" (USA Today).

Va. Health Bill Could Foil Obama Proposal Here in the former capital of the Old Confederacy, where resistance to the supremacy of federal law has a long and tortuous history, a new battle is being waged over a question that could undercut a key part of President Obama's health care proposal: whether Washington can require that most Americans have health insurance (The Boston Globe).

Kaiser Health News tracked the weekend's news coverage, focusing on Sunday's talk show skirmishes and the ongoing battle between Republicans and Democrats on health reform legislation.