Health Care For America Now

NEWS

Dianne Feinstein: Criticism From Left On Health Care “Doesn’t Move Me One Whit” - Greg Sargent

Senator Dianne Feinstein has already taken a hammering from Dems and health care reform advocates for casting doubts on the prospects of President Obama’s health care reform efforts. MoveOn, for instance, aired an ad against her in California, demanding she show some leadership and fight harder to get the president’s reform plan passed.

Obama Steers Health Debate Out of Capital - New York Times

With Democrats deeply divided over health legislation, President Obama is trying to enlist the nation’s governors and his own army of grass-roots supporters in a bid to increase pressure on lawmakers without getting himself mired in the messy battle playing out on Capitol Hill.

AP Interview: Snowe seeks bipartisan health bill - Associated Press

Sen. Olympia Snowe, a key figure in shaping federal health care legislation, said Monday that a government-run plan that would take effect if the private insurance market fails to deliver affordable coverage could bridge the partisan divide that threatens to derail President Barack Obama's efforts to reform the system.

Dems warn GOP not to overreach in health care - Associated Press

Mainstream Democrats close to Barack Obama are warning Republicans about insisting on too many changes to the president's health care overhaul, saying the Democratic-controlled Congress will move ahead without GOP input if they do.

OPINION

Designing the Health Insurance Exchanges - Ezra Klein

I've said before that the Health Insurance Exchange is arguably the most important element of health-care reform. And I'm worried about it. Just like there's a strong and weak version of the public plan, there's a strong and weak version of the exchange. It's been hard to get people to care about the exchanges. So maybe this will help: The Health Insurance Exchange is where the public plan will live. And if the exchange doesn't survive, or thrive, then neither will the public plan.

Tom Daschle: ‘I Can’t Think Of A Tool That More Effectively Controls Costs Than A Public Option’ - Think Progress

Over at ThinkProgress, Faiz Shakir reports that “in an emailed statement to Bloomberg News, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she’s open to the idea of dropping a public health insurance option in favor of a medical-insurance cooperative,” even if the proposed co-operative is a mosaic of state-based programs.

Health Care's #1 Enemy - Media Matters

Betsy McCaughey is at it again - spreading misinformation about health care reform and helping to prevent millions of Americans from gaining access to basic health care services.

Senate Finance Committee Health Care Influence Cluster: The Democrats - Paul Blumenthal

Last week, I took a look at the circle of former staffers turned health care lobbyists that surround Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus. The Senate Finance Committee is one of the two central committees in the Senate charged with formulating health care reform legislation. Knowing the connections to the health care lobby of all committee members provides us with a glimpse into who may have access to shape the forthcoming legislation. In continuing with mapping Baucus' connections, below you'll find a map of all the committee Democrats and their connections, through former staffers turned health care lobbyists, to various health care lobbies.

Debating the Public Option - The American Prospect

In "The Perils of the Public Plan," Paul Starr warns that a public-insurance option could turn into exactly the opposite of what progressives want. Here he discusses the problems with the Prospect's two other co-founders, Robert Kuttner and Robert Reich.

Taxing Employer Health Benefits: The Poison Pill That Would Kill Health Care Reform - Jimmy Hoffa

Congress is finally beginning to grapple with a way to give all U.S. citizens access to affordable health insurance. Unions support universal coverage like a large majority of Americans.