Health law headlines: PR challenges and overhaul tell-alls

Although Democrats are having some success with attacks on the GOP Medicare plan, they are still playing defense on the health law, according to Politico. Meanwhile, former Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag writes a "tell-all" for the magazine Foreign Affairs about the health overhaul.

Politico: For Dems, Health Law Is Chronic Pain
Democrats may be on the offensive against the Republican Medicare plan, but they're not finished playing defense on their health care law. That's the lesson from the latest series of PR crises on the law they've had to deal with, including a survey that suggested many employers would stop offering health coverage and a widely circulated news story that reported 3 million middle-class people could qualify for Medicaid because of the law (Nather, 6/26).

CQ HealthBeat: An Orszag Tell-All On The Overhaul: Mistakes Were Made
Former Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag says in an article in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine that the "biggest substantive shortcoming" of the health care overhaul is its failure to change medical liability laws. In the July/August article, he explores several of what he calls "mistakes" in the law, at length. On liability, "the traditional approach to tort reform involves imposing some limit on damages," he says. "A far better strategy would be to provide a safe harbor for doctors who follow evidence-based guidelines," (Norman, 6/24).