THE DAILY DOSE: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2009

by Katie Grant
Stephanie Lundberg

August 05, 2009
Health Reform in the House

Fact of the Day

In 2007, 39 percent of the working-age population, or 72 million people, had at least one chronic health condition, such as diabetes, asthma or depression.
(Center for Studying Health System Change)

Health Resources

Under the Microscope

REPORT: How We Can Pay for Health Care Reform
In this paper and brief, the authors discuss alternative ways that health reform could be financed. They analyze different options including several proposals for delivery system reforms and for reduction in Medicare and Medicaid payments. They estimate the cost savings that could occur due to the introduction of a public plan option. Finally, they explore a range of revenue options. The key message of the paper is that health reform can be paid for, but it is best to obtain funds from a large number of measures to spread the burden broadly.
[Urban Institute, 7/5/2009] Read the summary.

Health Care Headlines

  • Obama’s Charm School is in Session
    President Barack Obama is wading deeper into the health care debate, hosting dozens of lawmakers at the White House since the middle of July in an outburst of personal presidential diplomacy designed to prod legislation toward a vote. [Roll Call, 8/5/2009] Read a related article.
  • White House Launches Attacks on Attacks
    The White House launched a coordinated effort Tuesday to combat what it calls a “viral whisper campaign” to torpedo health care reform. [Politico, 8/4/2009]
    Read related articles in the L.A. Times and Washington Post.
  • Groups Take Health-Reform Debate to Airwaves
    The increasingly heated fight over health-care legislation is saturating the summer airwaves, with groups on all sides of the debate pouring tens of millions of dollars into advertising campaigns designed to push the cause of reform forward, slow it down or stop it in its tracks. [Washington Post, 8/5/2009]
  • Blue Dogs Spend Recess Listening
    Blue Dog Democrats are happy to be spending their August listening to constituents talk about health care reform — and not have to be defending a vote on it. [Roll Call, 8/5/2009]
  • Why a Doctor in Congress Has No Health Insurance
    Rep. Steve Kagen is a doctor, a Democrat and, as far as his office has been able to determine, the only member of Congress who does not have any kind of health insurance. [Politics Daily, 8/5/2009]
  • Bipartisan Negotiators Wrestle With Affordability of Plans
    Senate Finance Committee members aiming to negotiate a bipartisan overhaul agreement wrestled Tuesday evening with the details of an issue that could prove to be a political powder keg if they get it wrong: making sure plans are affordable in a revamped system in which individual Americans are required to carry health insurance coverage. [CQ HealthBeat, 8/4/2009]
  • To Ensure They Get Paid, Doctors Seek Entire Bill for Patient Share Upfront
    Insured patients typically expect to make a small co-payment when they see a doctor, and later get billed for anything else they owe. But physicians no longer want to wait for their money.
    [Wall Street Journal, 8/5/2009]
  • The Burden of Health Care Costs for Working Families - Implications for Reform
    On June 2, 2009, President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers released a report examining the economic case for health care reform, in which they underscored the importance of cost containment to the long-term sustainability of any reform. [New England Journal of Medicine, 7/30/2009]
    Read the CEA report.
  • OPINION: Health Reform, Long-Term
    By Mark Mellman, democratic pollster
    Though unnerved by uncertainties about what Washington is offering, Americans are still demanding healthcare reform. [The Hill, 8/4/2009]
  • OPINION: The Politics of Sacrifice
    By Michael A. Cohen, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation
    Today, nearly 50 million Americans lack health care coverage, the average American is often one serious illness away from financial ruin and every year nearly 20,000 Americans die because they don’t have health insurance. [Politico, 8/5/2009]
  • OPINION: Orszag vs the CBO: Round Two
    By Ezra Klein
    Peter Orszag and the Office of Management and Budget have fired another shot at the Congressional Budget Office this morning, releasing a letter signed by an assemblage of health-care wonks all of whom believe that Orszag's Independent Medicare Advisory Council could save some serious money. [Washington Post, 8/4/2009]



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