Insursed, but Bankrupted by Health Crisis (NY Times, 6/30)
Health insurance is supposed to offer protection — both medically and financially. But as it turns out, an estimated three-quarters of people who are pushed into personal bankruptcy by medical problems actually had insurance when they got sick or were injured.
Health Reform Hits Senate Speed Bumps (Politico, 6/17)
Health care reform hit a serious setback Wednesday, with the Senate Finance Committee blowing its own deadline for a bill and the Health Committee breaking sharply along partisan lines — developments that place President Barack Obama’s August deadline for passing a bill in doubt.
GOP Pushed for Incomplete Health Care Study, then Politicized It (Huffington Post, 6/16)
On Monday afternoon, critics of a major health care overhaul seized on a report from the Congressional Budget Office showing that a Democratic reform bill could cost $1trillion over ten years despite adding only 17 million Americans to the ranks of the insured. But the results are incomplete, and they know it.
The Arena: What is the most significant obstacle President Obama faces in achieveing his proposed overhaul of the US health care system?
(Politico, 6/16)
Read this daily debate of policymakers and opinion shapers.
Health Insurance Exchanges: The Most Important, Undernoticed Part of Health Reform (Ezra Klein, 6/16)
If I had to choose the most important aspect of health reform, it wouldn’t be the public plan. Nor would it be the individual mandate, or the employer mandate, or the employer tax exclusion, or the Medicaid expansion. It wouldn’t, in fact, be any of the issues that are dominating the political conversation. Rather, it would be the Health Insurance Exchange.
You be Obama (NY Times OpEd, 6/15)
Let’s say that you are President Obama. You’ve inherited a health care system that is the insane spawn of a team of evil geniuses from an alien power. Pay is divorced from performance. Users are separated from costs. Rising costs threaten to destroy your nation and everything you hold dear.
Obama takes his case to the American Medical Association (Politico, 6/14)
President Barack Obama will attempt to convince a skeptical American Medical Association Monday to drop its resistance to the most controversial element of his health reform effort, a government insurance plan
Renewed regulation possible for insurers (Schnectady Gazette, 6/14)
Deregulation of health insurance premiums has resulted in excessive rate increases, forcing many New Yorkers to pay more than they should for health insurance and even drop coverage altogether, according to a new state report.
Following the Money in the Health Care Debate (NY Times, 6/13)
Roughly $2.5 trillion is at stake, the amount the nation spends each year on health care, nearly a fifth of the American economy. How that money is divided up — or prevented from rising at its current pace — is at the center of the debate.
The Rock in Health Care Reform (Washington Post, 6/11)
The goal of the Obama White House is to come up with a health-care plan that can attract bipartisan support.
Why the State Senate bedlam will be good for NY (Slate, 6/10)
The battle for control of the New York state Senate has turned Albany into a circus for the past several days, but in the long run, this chaos will be good for the state, its government, and democracy.
Democrats Nearing Consensus on Health Plan (NY Times, 6/9)
A broad consensus on the contours of legislation to remake the nation’s health care system appeared to be developing among Democratic leaders on Tuesday as three House committee chairmen outlined a bill generally similar to one being written in the Senate.
Some Insurance Plans Are Bad for You (Washington Post, 6/9)
Individual insurance is increasingly a nightmare for consumers: more costly than the equivalent job-based coverage, and, for those in less-than-perfect health, unaffordable at best and unavailable at worst.
The Paradox of Health Reform (Slate, 6/9)
Polls tend to show that while a significant majority of Americans favors a more aggressive role for government in controlling health care costs and extending coverage to the uninsured, a majority simultaneously pronounces itself satisfied with its own health insurance, which typically is provided by employers.
New York State Senators Defect to Republican Party; Reproductive Health, Gay Marriage Equality Legislation Doomed (RH Reality Check, 6/8)
Both reproductive health and same-sex marriage advocates’ hopes were riding high on the conclusion of the New York state legislative session.
MoneyWise health notebook: HMO billing rules vary by provider (Syracuse Post Standard, 6/8)
When health care is provided by a participating provider, an HMO cannot charge subscribers for amounts that exceed any contractual co-payment amounts.
Obama Open to a Mandate on Health Insurance (NY Times, 6/4)
President Obama said Wednesday that he was receptive to Congressional proposals that would require Americans to have health insurance and oblige employers to share in the cost. But he said there should be exemptions for people who cannot afford insurance and for small businesses in general.
City Labor Unions Agree to Reduction in Health Benefits (NY Times, 6/3)
The agreement imposes $50 to $100 co-payments for about one-fifth of current and retired city employees, and eliminates coverage for preventive dental care at certain offices. For most other city employees, the plan would restrict certain hospital, ambulatory and hemodialysis coverage to network providers and would implement several other administrative cost-saving measures.
Liberal Groups Bolster Obama Health Care Plans (Boston Globe, 6/2)
Leaders of the country’s largest and most influential liberal groups said yesterday they are poised to spend $82 million to help push through sweeping healthcare legislation this year.
Health Insurers Balk at Some Changes (NY Times, 6/2)
The insurance industry says it wholeheartedly embraces a health care overhaul, promising Congress and the president that it will make it much easier for individuals to buy insurance on their own.
Obama Said to be Open on Taxing Health Care Benefits
(Wall Street Journal, 6/2)
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus on Tuesday indicated that President Barack Obama may be warming to the idea of taxing employer-provided health-care benefits to pay for an overhaul of the nation’s health system. But the White House, and a key Democratic senator, quickly shot down the idea that the president has had a change of heart.
