Health Care For America Now

NEWS

For President, Five Programs, One Message - New York Times

No one shifted an armchair, moved a flower arrangement or asked an unexpected question.

SPIN METER: $2 trillion in health savings? Where? - Associated Press

It was a watershed moment in the health care struggle: Leaders of the insurance, hospital and other medical industries stood with President Barack Obama at the White House and promised steps to save $2 trillion over the next decade.

Confusing Insurance Jargon Prompts Call For Reform - Kaiser Health News

Neil Dukas knew little about health insurance because he had always been healthy. When he and his wife bought a high-deductible policy in 2008, he didn’t know the difference between a deductible and an out-of-pocket limit. He simply assumed that when he needed care, the insurer would cover it.

A Proposed Tax on the Cadillac Health Insurance Plans May Also Hit the Chevys - New York Times

Although cast as a tax on gold-plated insurance policies for the well-heeled, it has prompted anxiety among the middle class.

The President’s Best Hope in the G.O.P. - New York Times

President Obama intends to keep wooing the public to support for his health care goals in a scheduled Monday night appearance on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” Polls suggest he has had mixed results so far.

Graham: Health care must be reformed - The Greenville News

With the conversation in Washington and at public “town hall” gatherings getting more and more heated, many are wondering if the government is up to the challenge of fixing health care. Count U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham among them.

Toughest test coming up for health care overhaul - Associated Press

Keep going. You don't have to fix all of it now. Just please don't let it stall. That's the essence of the message that Senate Democratic leaders have for their Finance Committee senators, who plan to start voting Tuesday on a remake of the nation's health care system.

OPINION

Public option essential to health-care reform - Chicago Sun Times

Health-care reform without a robust public health insurance option won't be much reform at all.

What's Wrong With the Finance Bill? An Interview With Sen. Jay Rockefeller. - Ezra Klein

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) chairs the Finance Committee's Health Care Subcommittee. His support will be crucial — maybe even decisive – in getting health-care reform out of the Finance Committee. And he's been very public about his unhappiness with the bill. I spoke with the senator about his concerns this morning. An edited transcript follows.

Why Olympia Snowe Should Vote Against the Baucus Plan - Robert Reich

How is it that a decision next week by a single Senator from Maine will almost certainly determine whether America's future healthcare system is still in the hands of private for-profit insurance companies and Big Pharma or enables more Americans to get better health care at lower cost? Bear with me, because you need to know what's likely to happen if she signs on, and if she doesn't. The next few weeks are crucial.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR: What health care reform could mean to small businesses - North Bay Business Journal

After months of rancorous public debate (and often melodramatic spectacle), it appears that our elected officials may actually be inching toward a definitive compromise on the most comprehensive health care reform legislation since the enactment of Medicare.

Public option will help curb health care costs - The Buffalo News

Back in the good old days, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller quickly embraced the new health care program for the poor called Medicaid.