Additional Resources
| Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Some Small Businesses See Burden In 'Cadillac' TaxKaiser Health News staff writer Jenny Gold, in collaboration with NPR, writes about this proposed tax. It could make it more difficult for small businesses to purchase health coverage. Even though many businesses don't offer rich benefits, their plans may be costly because the covered employees are predominantly older, sicker or female, three categories that currently result in higher premiums... |
| Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Today's Opinions And EditorialsA Health Insurance Mandate With A Choice The New York Times Democrats could modify one key provision of their legislation h the mandate that individuals buy insurance h in a way that goes to the heart of conservative and libertarian objections (Paul Starr, 3/3)... |
| Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Political Heat Tests The President's Calm ComposureThe Washington Post: For a president "who so famously rejects drama," recent times have marked "one of the wildest policitcal stretches in recent memory." President Obama has said during yesterday's White House speech that, at stake in this legislative struggle is the nation's ability not only to solve health care problems, but "our ability to solve any problem... |
| Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance KHN Column: Popular But Ineffective: Repealing Insurers' Antitrust ExemptionIn today's Kaiser Health News column, Austin Frakt and Ian Crosby write: It is well known that concentration in the health insurance industry is to blame for rapidly rising premiums. Well known, but wrong. Taking political advantage of this common misconception, last week the House passed a bill to repeal insurers' antitrust exemption... |
| Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:00:00 PST Abortion Videos Comment On Health Reform Abortion Language, Unsafe Abortion In KenyaThe following summarizes select women's health-related videos. Stupak, Sebelius Discuss Reform Vote: On Thursday's "Good Morning America," Sebelius countered Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) claims that the Senate health reform bill would lessen restrictions on federal funding of abortion... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Today's Opinions And EditorialsHealth Reform That Won't Break The Bank The Washington Post Some critics complain that the administration has slipped in its commitment to fiscal responsibility in health reform. These critics are mistaken. The president's plan represents an important step toward long-term fiscal sustainability (Peter Orszag and Nancy-Ann DeParle, 3/5)... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance In White House Meeting, Sebelius Urges Insurers To Release All Details On Rate HikesInsurance companies should disclose more information about how they spend money to justify their rate hikes, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a group of insurance executives during a White House meeting Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Republican Senators Go On The Offensive Against Reconciliation VoteThe Hill: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is seeking bipartisan support to block Senate Democrats from using special parliamentary tactics to pass healthcare reform. The Democratic strategy of using reconciliation to pass changes to the healthcare bill is reminiscent of Republican attempts to force President George W. Bush's judicial nominees through with a simple majority vote, McCain said Thursday... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST Abortion Videos Comment On Health Reform Abortion Language, Unsafe Abortion In KenyaThe following summarizes select women's health-related videos. Stupak, Sebelius Discuss Reform Vote: On Thursday's "Good Morning America," Sebelius countered Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) claims that the Senate health reform bill would lessen restrictions on federal funding of abortion... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST Abortion House Dems Address Abortion-Rights Opponents' Resistance To Senate Health Reform BillAs health reform negotiations continue, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic leaders are working to gain the support of antiabortion-rights House members without compromising the votes of members who support abortion rights, the Washington Post reports... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Advocates, Opponents Target Two Dozen Swing Votes"As President Obama pushes for a prompt up or down vote on his health initiative, lobbyists and activist groups on both sides of the issue have launched grass-roots and high-dollar advertising campaigns on the roughly two dozen members of Congress who may be the final swing votes on the controversial issue," The Los Angeles Times reports... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Obama Seeks To Mollify Democrats On Health Overhaul Plan, CostsPresident Barack Obama intensified his push for health care reform by lobbying small groups of Democratic lawmakers Thursday... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Health Reform Fact Check: Republicans Have Used Reconciliation, Obama Bill Will Bring Down Health CostsSeveral news organization have "fact checks" on the reconciliation procedure and health reform provisions. The Associated Press examined then-candidate Barack Obama's Oct. 2007 statement of "We're not going to pass universal health care with a 50-plus-one strategy... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST Abortion Democratic Division On Abortion Language In Health Overhaul Jeopardizes Chances For Passage"Democratic leaders in Congress are embarking on a delicate strategy to win over abortion opponents, a gambit that could determine whether the legislation becomes law." The Washington Post reports. "The effort depends on convincing as many as a dozen anti-abortion Democrats in the House that abortion language in the Senate bill is more stringent than initially portrayed... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST Abortion Blogs Comment On Health Reform Abortion Language, Utah Antiabortion Bill, Other TopicsThe following summarizes select women's health-related blog entries. ~ "Nelson Restrictions Most Likely Outcome of Reconciliation Process," Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: While antiabortion-rights advocates "are ratcheting up pressure to completely eliminate" abortion coverage, "discriminatory restrictions contained in the Senate bill (HR 3590) ... are likely to become law," Jacobson writes... |
| Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST Abortion Slate Column Refutes Stupak's Claim That Senate Health Reform Bill Includes Federal Abortion FundingRep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) claim that the Senate health reform bill (HR 3590) would allow taxpayer dollars to be used to cover abortion services "concerns (or at least pretends to concern) matters of fact, not belief," Slate columnist Timothy Noah writes... |
| Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Sebelius Sends Letter To Insurance Company CEOs, Calls On Executives To Publicly Justify Premium HikesIn a letter to the CEOs of UnitedHealth Group Inc., WellPoint Inc., Aetna Inc., Health Care Service Corporation and CIGNA HealthCare Inc., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called on the executives to publicly justify proposed health insurance premium increases. Sebelius' letter comes after a meeting last week with these executives at the White House... |
| Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance States Trying To Keep Health Care Systems AfloatStates are having to make budgetary decisions about their health care systems as federal legislation and funding continue to be tied up in Congress. Minnesota Daily: Lawmakers in Minnesota have revealed a plan to temporarily extend the General Assistance Medical Care plan before replacing it "with a trimmed-down delivery system managed largely by hospitals. ... |
| Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance White House Emphasizes Rising Health Insurance Costs As Reason For ReformThe Los Angeles Times analyzes how insurance costs became a focal point: "The Democrats' bill was in serious trouble when news broke of planned rate hikes by the California insurer. ... Anthem Blue Cross was seeking double-digit rate increases for many of its 800,000 individual policyholders. Company executives had little reason to worry... |
| Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Reconciliation Update: Some Dems, GOP And Industry Groups Wary Of Health Bill StrategyThe Los Angeles Times: "Obama's signature ability to inspire fellow Democrats and Pelosi's well-honed ability to read their parochial needs will be tested as they tackle the job of finding the last stubborn votes for the healthcare bill. ... "Under the Democrats' strategy, the House would pass the Senate's version of the bill... |
