Health Care For America Now

NEWS

Democrats steam toward Sunday vote - Politico

The Democrats’ yearlong health reform push picked up unmistakable momentum Thursday as the votes began to fall into place for a history-making roll call Sunday that could achieve the party’s decadeslong goal of expanding health care.

AFL-CIO Urges House to Approve Health Care Bill - Roll Call

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, is the latest lobbying heavyweight to formally give its seal of approval to Democrats’ $940 billion health care reform legislation, urging House Members on Thursday to vote for the measure.

Senate Democrats Building Broad Message Campaign - Roll Call

Senate Democrats are planning an aggressive message campaign between now and November focusing on jobs, national security, the immediate impact of health care reform and their party’s efforts to “take on Wall Street.”

Democrats Say Health Bill Will Pay for Itself in the Long Run - New York Times

House Democrats initiated a 72-hour countdown Thursday on their yearlong effort to overhaul the health care system, unveiling a nearly final version of the legislation that promptly won additional support with a promise that the bill would more than pay for itself over the next decade.

Eric Cantor’s Office Endorses Mythical ‘New England Journal of Medicine Report’ - Washington Independent

Dayspring doesn’t mis-attribute the study to the New England Journal of Medicine, but I think Peter Lipson at Forbes does a good job unspooling the unscientific Medicus poll that’s at issue here.

Nine Major Changes In The Democrats' New Health Reform Bill - Kaiser Health News

In their attempt to pass a sweeping health care overhaul this weekend, House Democrats are pushing a package of legislative fixes to lure undecided or opposed members of their party to the "yes" category.

OPINION

On the Verge of Reform - New York Times

The best chance in decades of fixing this country’s broken health care system has now come down to whether the House’s Democratic majority will approve the already strong Senate version of the bill — with a promise of some changes.

Why We Reform - Paul Krugman

One way or another, the fate of health care reform is going to be decided in the next few days. If House Democratic leaders find 216 votes, reform will almost immediately become the law of the land. If they don’t, reform may well be put off for many years — possibly a decade or more.

ANALYSIS: How The Reconciliation Package Improved The Senate Bill - Think Progress

The full text of the reconciliation bill is up and all in all, it doesn’t contain too many surprises. Like the President’s proposal, the package improves the affordability measures in the Senate bill, increases the excise tax thresholds and completely closes the donut hole in Medicare Part D. Lawmakers had a hard time  making this package work: they had to achieve significant deficit reductions all the while spending more money on affordability credits and losing revenue in the excise tax provisions. The bill does this in several ways.