Health Care For America Now

NEWS

Transition hosts health care meetings - Politico

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is starting to collect political intelligence it could use to sway lawmakers and special interest groups in the upcoming health care reform debate.

Health execs, advocates brainstorm reform ideas for Obama - Business First Columbus

A group with seemingly competing interests – hospital executives, government health officials, private physicians, an insurance salesman, a consumer advocate – found plenty of common ground Tuesday when discussing health-care reform ideas to send to President-elect Barack Obama.

High medical costs, low pricing hurts managed care - Associated Press

Managed care stocks were hammered in 2008, as higher-than-expected medical costs burned up health insurers' profits and skittish investors wrung their hands over the companies' potential exposure to failed investment banks.

Sellers of Discount Healthcare Cards Face More Regulation - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

With the nation's highest rate of uninsured residents, Texas has been a top market for sellers of discount healthcare cards, which claim to offer lower prices for doctors and other services in exchange for an annual fee.

Health Plan Influx Awaited: Unemployment is Expected to Spur Use of the State's High-Risk Insurance Program - The News & Observer

With unemployment rising, more people with high-risk health problems are expected to turn to state-subsidized insurance that takes effect Thursday.

NEWS

Obama health choice hears tales of health care woe - Chicago Tribune

President-elect Barack Obama's choice to overhaul the nation's health care system told a town hall meeting that the task is not impossible if all sides work together.

New Model of Care Is Needed, Experts Say - New York Times

American medicine is already in a crisis mode when it comes to geriatric care, and the problem will only become worse unless new approaches are found, experts say.

Health Plan Restraints Might Keep Patients From Choosing Quality Care - EMaxHealth

Public reports on the quality of care delivered by health plans might motivate patients to choose better providers — if they are not constrained by issues of cost and accessibility to doctors, according to a review of recent studies.

Obama's Health Care Team Pumps Message - Washington Post

Dolly Sweet, 77, has battled cancer more than once. She's a fighter. But when her doctor recently prescribed a medication that cost $35,000 a year, she felt she had no choice.

NEWS

Fewer doctors entering primary-care field as need grows - McClatchy Newspapers

Many classmates of Dr. Chip Roser ended their medical training ready to practice a specialty. They morphed into neurologists, cardiologists, pathologists, dermatologists or other "-gists." Despite advice to the contrary, Roser chose the path of family medicine, with potentially lower pay and longer hours. And he doesn't regret it.

Citizens group answers Obama's call on health care - San Jose Mercury News

It was Democracy 101 — nine citizen-soldiers responding to a battle call for government reform, gathered around lattes and quiche in a downtown San Jose cafe, brainstorming ways to help President-elect Barack Obama ride to the rescue of an expensive, bloated and inequitable health care system.

Group discusses U.S. health care - Norwalk News

About 44 area residents met Sunday at the Wilton library, 137 Old Ridgefield Road, to discuss the Gordian knot that is the nation's health-care system. The discussions will form the basis for a report to be sent to President-elect Barack Obama's Presidential Transitional Health Care Policy team. The team, to be headed by the nominee for the cabinet position of Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Daschle, asked Wilton resident Marianne Howatson to organize the event.

Health Care Reform - The Baltimore Sun

In 1993, Hillary Clinton, then the first lady, led an effort to reform the America's health care system that failed, in part because the public was excluded from secret planning sessions. Now, former Sen. Tom Daschle, who is shaping health policy proposals for President-elect Barack Obama, is hoping to do better. He is urging Americans to join in house parties this month to help develop ideas for new national policies to reduce health costs, boost the quality of care and get everyone coverage.

NYTimes: When a dozen consumers gathered over the weekend to discuss health care at the behest of President-elect Barack Obama, they quickly agreed on one point: they despise health insurance companies.

Read more…

NEWS

Obama Transition Team Hopes To Complete Stimulus Bill Draft By Dec. 25; Democrats Say Health Care Funding Could Account For One-Fifth Of Package – Medical News Today

The transition team for President-elect Barack Obama seeks to complete a two-year economic stimulus "blueprint" by Dec. 25 to allow Democratic congressional staff members to draft legislation by the new year, the New York Times reports (Calmes, New York Times, 12/19).

Mass.health plan has national appeal – Boston Globe

Lisa Wangsness, December 19, 2008 WASHINGTON - Key players in the debate over how to provide healthcare coverage for the nation's 47 million uninsured say they view Massachusetts' landmark 2006 law as an important model for what Washington could do and how to get it done.

Advocates Weigh In on FDA Leader – Wall Street Journal

Health groups, some backed by the drug industry, have joined the heated lobbying battle in Washington over the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, sending a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle urging him to pick a person familiar with the industry.

When the transition team Change.org asked the American people to provide the best ideas for change in 2009–the erstwhile Jason Rosenbaum suggested the idea, "Pass a health care plan that provides quality, affordable health care for everyone in 2009, so we can start to get our economy and our country back on track."

Not surprisingly, this was one of the most popular ideas submitted. In fact, it's #4! I think it should be number one. Please go to Change.gov Change.org and vote for quality, affordable health care for all:

VOTE HERE. VOTE TODAY.

We know that almost every one in America is affected by the health care crisis, and we are very happy to see that the incoming administration understands this as they have demonstrated with the appointment of Tom Daschle and his Health Care Community Discussions. I hosted a discussion this week, and I was particularly moved by the statement of one of the participants that really boiled the whole conversation about health care down to its essence. Karima from VA summed it all up saying, “I don’t really care how it happens. I just think that when people are sick they should be able to go to the doctor and not worry about the cost.”

Let the Obama Administration know that we want quality, affordable health care for all now–and we are making it our priority too.

VOTE HERE. VOTE TODAY.

NOTE: There was some confusion here about Change.gov and Change.org. We apologize for the mix up.

Budget Office Sees Hurdles in Financing Health Plans - NYTimes

The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that many of the health care proposals championed by President-elect Barack Obama and other Democrats would carry a high price tag and would generate only modest savings.

Matthew Herper On Health Care - Forbes

Drug companies, health insurers and hospitals have all been talking about changing the way they do business. Now they actually have to or else.

Rebecca Ruiz On Health Care - Forbes

There's a large corner of Capitol Hill that's obsessed with pushing health care reform through Congress in 2009.

How Healthcare Fares During A Recession - NPR

It's hard enough being a doctor, let alone running your own practice. As patients face ever tightening budgets, some people skip important screenings and tests over insurance worries.

ABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports: Advocates of a government alternative to private health insurance fired the first shot of the new battle to reform the nation’s health-care system on Wednesday.

Read more…

Liberals Call Govt. Health Option Non-Negotiable - ABC The Note

Advocates of a government alternative to private health insurance fired the first shot of the new battle to reform the nation’s health-care system on Wednesday, saying that efforts to water down this key component of Barack Obama’s health-care plan should be rejected by members of Congress.

Obama's health-care calculations - Market Watch

Dangerously crowded emergency rooms. High and rising costs. Eroding standards of care. Disjointed health care that buries patients and doctors in paperwork. Declining employer-sponsored insurance coverage.

The Institute for America’s Future and renowned health care and economics expert, Jacob Hacker, released a report today called: “The Case for Public Plan Choice in National Health Reform.” The report explains how the public plan option levels the playing field to allow for access and affordability by reducing costs, without reducing the innovation that can come from the private market. The Key Findings (pdf) of the report state:

A health care system that contains costs and drives value must include a good public plan if the broad goals of reform—universal insurance and improved value—are to be achieved. Private insurance and public insurance have distinct strengths and weaknesses, and thus should be encouraged to compete side by side to attract enrollees on a level playing field that rewards plans that deliver better value and health to their enrollees. Public insurance has a better track record at reining in costs, while preserving access; it has pioneered key quality and payment innovations that have often set the standard for private plans; it is essential to set a standard against which private plans must compete to drive value and can be a source of stability for people. Private plans are a source of new benefit options, and continuing pressure for innovation in benefit design and care management strategies.

HCAN Campaign Director, Richard Kirsch, voiced his support for the report’s conclusion: “Creating a high quality, affordable public plan alternative to private insurance is absolutely essential to achieving comprehensive health care reform solutions that will work for all of us in 2009.” Rep. Pete Stark stated his strong support for the choice of a public plan and HCAN agrees that a health care solution that does not include a public plan would be a non-starter. President-elect Obama also talks about the choice of a public option as a critical part of his plan, saying again and again in his speeches that every American should have a choice of a public plan similar to the health care that every Member of Congress gets.

However, we have seen signs that there will be debate on this issue. Advocates of real health care reform need to make sure that this critical part of the solution is not bargained away in a misguided attempt to placate those who see health care reform as a business opportunity, not a matter of the health of our families and our neighbors. This would be a tragic mistake.

Many of you who have been following Congressional politics for some time now will remember that in recent years, “Mr. Hastert was an advocate of governing the House by a ‘majority of the majority’ – a standard he thought best served the interests of his Republican members and, by extension, the nation.” By that standard on the list of Congressional supporters for the HCAN Statement of Common Purpose, we have a ‘majority of the majority’ supporting the public plan choice. We hope this will allay the fears of anyone who believes that real change can’t happen, because, in fact, this train is already pulling out the station.