Health Care For America Now

NEWS

Specter: Democrats Must Use Reconciliation To Pass Health Care Fixes 'Simultaneously' - Huffington Post

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) urged his Democratic colleagues over the weekend to unite around a plan that would allow them to move forward with health care legislation using a process that requires only 51 votes.

Obama Calls Health Overhaul ‘My Greatest Hope’ - New York Times

President Obama, in a question-and-answer session to be posted on YouTube, the online video-sharing site, said that “it is my greatest hope” that health care legislation be adopted “not just a year from now, but soon.” Yet he also referred to the effort in the past tense: “We came extremely close,” he said — a sign that the fate of the health care measure is now highly uncertain.

Obama Says He’s Counting on GOP Support on Health Care - Wall Street Journal

President Barack Obama doesn’t seem to think much about the prospects of Democrats moving health care legislation on their own at this point. He said today that he is counting on Republican support.

State health plans in jeopardy - USA Today

Sherie Brace fears the coming of summer. That's when a special health insurance program for low-income adults in Washington state is set to close, ending coverage for her and about 65,000 others.

OPINION

Racing Against Time - Jon Cohn

For most of the last year, time has been health care reform's enemy. Could it now be reform's friend? That's the gamble reform's proponents in the administration and Congress are making now.

Health cost increases will hit double-digits in 2010 - another reason for real health reform - Health Populi

So much for America's ability to manage health care costs without health reform: health costs will increase in the double-digits this year, according to Buck Consultants' 21st National Health Care Trend Survey.

Are DNC donors funding ads praising Ben Nelson for diluting real health care reform? - Americablog

To the tune of nearly $500,000.

Is this "roadblock" for reconciliation really a roadblock? - Congress Matters

If it's just a straight-up question of whether it creates some kind of legal paradox to pass a reconciliation bill full of amendments to HR 3590 (widely referred to as "the Senate bill") before passing HR 3590 itself, then I think the answer is pretty clearly no, it does not.