Under the Microscope

Health Care Headlines

• Hospitals Reach Deal With Administration
  The nation's hospitals agreed last night to contribute $155 billion over 10 years toward the cost of insuring the 47 million Americans without health coverage, according to two industry sources. [Washington Post, 7/7/2009]
• White House Open to Deal on Public Health Plan
  It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday.
  [Wall Street Journal, 7/7/2009]
• Physicians Begin Coming Out Against MedPAC Proposal
  Some physician groups are taking the plunge and publicly coming out against a proposal under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee to help bring down healthcare spending and pay for an overhaul of the system. [CongressDaily, 7/7/2009]
• HELP Dems Consider Abandoning 2007 Biologics Deal
  Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Democrats appear to be abandoning a 2007 bipartisan deal reached on giving FDA the authority to approve generic versions of biologic drugs. [CongressDaily, 7/7/2009]
• On Health Care, Obama Battles History and Human Nature
  The latest polling data look great for President Obama: The numbers show that Americans love national health care. But if history and polling trends are any guide, however, that will change.
  [Washington Post, 7/7/2009]
• A Warm and Fuzzy Push on Health
  President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats pushing a massive health care reform package have yet to answer a central question for middle-class Americans: What’s in it for me? [Politico, 7/7/2009]
  Find out ‘What’s In the Health Care Reform Bill for You’ and read the Third Way memo.
• Religious Leaders Voice Support of Health Overhaul
  The health care debate extended to Christian radio stations in several key states during the July Fourth congressional recess, as a coalition of community organizing networks and national religious advocacy groups released ads urging senators to support health care overhaul. [CQ HealthBeat, 7/6/2009]
  Read about today’s summit of religious organizations.
• Senate Committees Face the Challenge of Combining Their Health Care Overhaul Bills
  Once the two Senate committees writing health care legislation complete their separate versions before the August recess, they may face another hurdle that is just as substantial — deciding how to combine their bills on the floor in a way that generates maximum support. [CQ Today, 7/6/2009]
• Some Unions May be Willing to Deal on Taxing Some Health Benefits
  From a distance, organized labor appears united against taxing any portion of the value of employer-provided health insurance. [CQ Today, 7/6/2009]
• Finance Panel’s Coverage Subsidies Found Wanting
  Subsidy levels in an health overhaul plan under development by the Senate Finance Committee will leave a number of Americans with moderate income struggling to pay for health coverage, according to an analysis by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. [CQ HealthBeat, 7/6/2009]
  Read the analysis here.
• EDITORIAL: Financing Health Care Reform
  If health care reform falls apart again in Congress, the most likely cause will be failure to agree on how to subsidize coverage for tens of millions of uninsured Americans. [New York Times, 7/6/2009]
• EDITORIAL: Covering the Uninsured: A Cost That Pays
  Access to affordable healthcare in the United States is an entitlement, a perquisite or a fantasy, depending on a seemingly arbitrary matrix of factors. [L.A. Times, 7/6/2009]
• OPINION: The Five Most Important Pieces of Health-Care Reform That Aren't the Public Plan
  By Ezra Klein
  There is an emergent argument in the liberal grassroots that if health-care reform doesn't have a strong public plan, it's not worth doing. Atrios wrote that without a public plan, “there really isn’t much point to any of this. The public plan is the point.” [Washington Post, 7/6/2009]