NewsTrust - Health Care - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

Should We Laugh? Cry? Both?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New Republic - By Jonathan Cohn - Nov. 23 (News Analysis) - The ritual is becoming familiar. Health care reform passes a major political hurdle. And progressives don?t know whether to laugh or cry. Last time, the occasion was a vote in the House of Representatives. Health care reform passed by the slimmest of margins, but not before conservative Democrats had extracted a major concession on abortion rights. This time, it was a vote in the Senate--not on whether to pass a bill, but whether to begin debating one. This measure, too, passed by the slimmest of margins, but not before conservative Democrats and one notorious independent made clear they were prepared to shut things down later if legislation includes a public insurance option. It?s no fun to watch this unfold. And yet this is the exactly the sort of drama you should expect for the next few weeks, as the Senate deliberations play out. The bill Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced last week is not everything it could be--not by a long shot. And progressives will try their ...

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Is It Time for Malpractice Reform?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

American Prospect - By Joanne Kenen - Nov. 20 (News Analysis) - Year after year, Republicans try to pass legislation that would limit medical malpractice awards. Fix the tort system, they argue, and we fix rising health-care costs. And year after year, Democrats resist placing arbitrary caps on awards to people who may have suffered from an egregious medical error. The fight plays out like a predictable old Western -- good guys versus bad guys. Depending on your politics, the villain is either the greedy doctor or the greedy trial lawyer.

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Docudrama

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New Republic - By Jonathan Cohn - Nov. 18 (Special Report) - Sometime in August, McKinsey & Company created a PowerPoint document called “Health Care Reform and Implications for Key Stakeholders: What this Could Mean for Client X.” Over the course of 44 slides full of charts and graphs, the firm examines the potential impact of reform on insurers, doctors, hospitals, and the drug industry. McKinsey tells Client X that the presentation’s purpose is to “help inform your understanding of the broader healthcare system impact and what this might mean for your key customers and Client X going forward.” After a source supplied me with the document--which is marked “confidential”--I contacted McKinsey. A spokesperson told me that “Client X” is not a particular company. Instead, he explained, the document is a broad overview of how McKinsey expects health care reform to play out. (It also appears to be a presentation that McKinsey consultants could adapt based on a client’s particular situation.)

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Tell Congress to Go To Hell With their Current Health Reform

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Boston Phoenix - By Rob Kall - Nov. 17 (News Analysis) - For OpEdNews: Rob Kall - Writer "I know some of my words are not nice-- crude, vulgar-- but if you're not thinking something like them, you don't get it. And if you have been thinking them, but don't want to say them, send your legislator my article."

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I’d Like the Same Plan Better If It Was Bill Clinton’s

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Miller-McCune - By Tom Jacobs - Nov. 13 (Special Report) - Even among the most extreme opponents of President Obama's push for health care reform — those who equate his proposals to Nazi death camps or Soviet gulags — there's little overtly expressed racism. Aside from the occasional slip by Republican officials in South Carolina,...But implicit racism — prejudice unacknowledged in public and, in many cases, hidden from conscious awareness — is a factor in opposition to Obama's health policies

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Endless Obstacles Delay Veteran Benefits

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Miller-McCune - By Aaron Glantz - Nov. 12 (Special Report) - The Department of Veterans Affairs routinely delays disability claims by wounded soldiers for months and years, often shunting them into homelessness. But there’s a simple way for the government to get disabled veterans the help they deserve. It can trust them.

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The Price of Health Reform: Abortion Rights?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Rachel Morris - Nov. 10 (News Report) - Will health care reform come at the cost of abortion rights? The Democrats? historic health care bill squeaked through the House on Saturday only after pro-life forces scored a major victory. Despite months of wrangling over the public option and the price tag, in the end the legislation's fate turned on an eleventh-hour push by conservative Democrats to broaden the bill's existing limits on government funding of abortion, in the form of an amendment authored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). Here?s what happened and what it means:

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Six Smart Progressive Complaints About House Health Bill

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Nation - By John Nichols - Nov. 09 (News Report) - Many sincere progressives in the House, and outside of it, chose to back the bill as the best that could be gotten. Others supported it on the theory that flaws could be fixed in the Senate and in the reconciliation of the House and Senate bills. But those repairs will only be made if activists are conscious of what ails this bill.

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Kucinich's Brave Health Vote Vs. Obama's Failed Promise

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Lee Stranahan - Nov. 08 (News Analysis) - There were plenty of cowardly votes in the House last night but there was only one truly brave one. The unsung hero of the night was Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich.

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The Scene In The House When It Happened

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Ryan Grim - Nov. 08 (News) - The House floor erupted in one of the loudest cheers the chamber has heard in years when Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), an hour before midnight, cast the 218th and deciding vote on landmark health care reform.

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House passes health care bill on close vote

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

seattlepi.com - By David Espo - Nov. 08 (News Report) - In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation Saturday night to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous.

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Why I Voted No

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

TruthDig - By Rep. Dennis Kucinich - Nov. 08 (News Report) - We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem.

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Rove, Fox & Friends' Briggs falsely claim Pelosi broke promise to have health bill available for 72 hours

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Media Matters - By Research - Nov. 07 (News Analysis) - However, Pelosi's office posted both the text of the bill and the "manager's amendment" -- which The Sunlight Foundation called an "extra final version of legislation" -- 72 hours in advance; those actions meet guidelines set by a House transparency measure that Pelosi told the Weekly Standard she "absolutely" supported.

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Fox News' declaration that election results mean "Obamacare" is dead is undermined by facts | Media Matters for America

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Media Matters - By Research - Nov. 04 (News Analysis) - ". . .Dick Morris' words, that the results were a "deathblow to Obamacare" and have argued that the election should send a message to moderate Democrats. But exit polls do not support these claims, showing that in both states, the voters who cited health care as a top concern sided with the Democrat in the race.

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The Biggest Roadblock to Change May Be in Our Minds

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Miller-McCune - By Tom Jacobs - Nov. 03 (News Analysis) - When you step back from the specifics of the health care debate — as well as the rancor surrounding it — an odd contradiction emerges. Fairly or not, insurance companies have traditionally been regarded with a combination of contempt and scorn. Yet the president's proposal to change the nation's system of health care coverage — which would put restrictions on some of the companies' more egregious practices and provide increased competition — has provoked fear and outrage in a sizable portion of the populace. Americans who under other circumstances might be grousing about rising premiums or denials of coverage are tenaciously clinging to a system they know and dislike.

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Coburn named as senator holding up vets bill - MarineCorpsTi

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

marinecorpstimes.com - By Rick Maze - Nov. 03 (News) - Thirteen major military and veterans groups have joined forces to try to force one senator — Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — to release a hold that he has placed on a major veterans benefits bill.

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Setting the Record Straight on Our Health Care Legislation

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Rep. Anna Eshoo - Oct. 30 (News) - Having put so much into these critical issues, I'm quite frankly outraged by the falsehoods and misrepresentations in Ms. Hamsher's column.

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Six months after the outbreak, who’s investigating the CAFO-swine flu link?

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By Tom Philpott - Oct. 29 (Investigative Report) - Scientists at the University of Minnesota and the University of Iowa revealed last week they had identified the H1N1 strain in seven pigs at the Minnesota State Fair in late summer as part of a study of virus exchange between swine and people. Some of those animals may have caught the bug from the hordes of visitors at the 12-day event. But not all: One infected animal was swabbed while being unloaded and almost certainly arrived with the virus.

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Grading the Public Options That Already Exist

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By Sabrina Sahnkman - Oct. 28 (News Analysis) - Pundits and politicians from both sides of the fence have been hollering themselves blue about a potential public health care option. Instead of relying on private insurers, the government would insure people itself. The idea is that if a

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Lawmakers Debate Incentives to Attract Medical Students to Primary Care - News digest - Building Human Capital newsroom - Building Human Capital - RWJF

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

rwjf.org - Oct. 28 (News) - Should this disparity in supply and demand continue, the nation could face a shortage of as many as 44,000 general physicians by 2025, a rate that could increase exponentially if health care reform extends health insurance to a greater portion of the population.

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Lieberman: Sure, I'd Filibuster A Health Care Reform Bill With A Public Option |

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Talking Points Memo - By Brian Butler - Oct. 27 (News) - Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told reporters today that he would in fact filibuster any health care bill he doesn't agree with--and right now, he doesn't agree with the public option proposal making its way through the Senate.

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For Red States, Opting Out is Not An Option

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Crooks and Liars - By Jon Perr - Oct. 27 (News Analysis) - While the Obama White House , Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Congressional Democrats debate among themselves whether the so-called "opt out" public health insurance option endorsed by Reid will be included in reform legislation, Minnesota Governor and GOP presidential wannabee Tim Pawlenty has already weighed in. Asked if he would "lead a charge" in his state to opt out, Pawlenty replied, "I think so because I don?t like government run health care." That's easy for him to say. As it turns out, Minnesota is the exception that proves the rule of red state socialism . An increasingly blue state with the 4th best health care system in the nation, the Land of 10,000 Lakes sends far more tax dollars to Washington than it receives in federal ...

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Senate Dems to Obama: Um, a Little Help Here?

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New Republic - By Jonathan Cohn - Oct. 26 (News Analysis) - After a weekend of furious activity, Democratic leaders in the Senate think they are close to getting the votes they need in order to pass an "opt-out" version of the public option. But they feel like President Obama could be doing more to help them, with one senior staffer telling TNR on Sunday that the leadership would like, but has yet to receive, a clear "signal" of support for their effort.

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Health care reform: A summary of recent distortions

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Angie Drobnic Holan - Oct. 24 (News Analysis) - The debate over health care reform has been defined by exaggerations and falsehoods. Republicans have falsely labeled the Democratic plan "government-run health care" and warned of death panels for the elderly and taxpayer subsidies for illegal immigrants. Democrats, meanwhile, have exaggerated the savings of their plan and made false claims about their favorite villains, the insurance companies.

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Heather Graham Teaches Us About Polls

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Justin Bank - Oct. 23 (Special Report) - The liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org Political Action has released another health care ad featuring a Hollywood celebrity. Last time it was Will Ferrell talking of pygmy horses and executive compensation. This time it’s actress Heather Graham dressing up as a track and field runner (labeled "public option") and challenging health insurance executives to a race. [...]

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