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President Obama was upbeat about negotiations on health legislation as he addressed the Democratic Caucus last night. With him are House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images)
The final decision on who should supervise health exchanges is critical to health plan choices available to consumers, the cost of the premiums and the clout regulators may have.
A Cato Institute new study finds implicit marginal tax rates would hover near 70-80 percent over broad ranges of income. In many cases, they would exceed 100 percent, financially penalizing those who try to climb the economic ladder.
Florida’s Republican attorney general opposes the individual mandate and a state insurance official says significant changes in state laws would be needed to meet federal requirements if overhaul passes.
Officials at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce predict that House and Senate negotiators would finish their work and get a final bill to President Barack Obama by mid-to-late February.
One key element of both the House and Senate health bills would create health insurance “exchanges” where individuals and small businesses could purchase health insurance. However, the House and Senate versions would work in very different ways. This story comes from our partner
With House members returning to town, negotiations continue between House and Senate Democrats over differences in the two chambers’ health care bills.
With House members returning to town, negotiations continue between House and Senate Democrats over differences in the two chambers’ health care bills. Key differences include financing, the level of subsidies provided to help people afford coverage and whether or not to include a tax on high-cost health insurance plans.
Compared to George W. Bush’s administration, President Obama has made significant gains in legislative transparency.
Friday’s unemployment report revealed that since Dec. 2007 the health sector added 631,000 jobs, even as the economy tanked.
Even if all of the offsets work out as planned, which is not likely, the House and Senate bills would still create substantial budgetary risks because of the pressures for entitlement expansion they would unleash.
Tax agency would be responsible for checking whether individuals get required insurance, distributing billions of dollars in subsidies and collecting new taxes and penalties.
Congress is still on holiday break, but President Obama and Congressional leaders are at work starting to merge the House and Senate health care overhaul bills. Congress watchers say looking back at how the debate got to this point may provide some important clues as to where it might lead. This story comes from our partner
Reforms in the pipeline would leave millions of Americans with too little government help to buy insurance, some experts say.
Legislation would restore Medicaid rights to citizens of the Marshall Islands and two other nations who have the unique ability to travel and work freely in the U.S.
Don Emmanuel Kayembe, 2, was born with heart defects and congenital developmental issues while his mother, Jeanne d’Arc Kayembe, was in the United States on a tourist visa. She struggled to oversee his medical care while also trying to find a way to stay here.
House and Senate lawmakers are beginning to resolve differences between the two chambers’ health care overhaul plans. Those differences include the size of the bills, language governing abortion funding and how the bills would be financed. While the House bill includes a government-run health insurance option the Senate bill does not. Negotiations are expected to continue throughout January.
House and Senate lawmakers are beginning to resolve differences between the two chambers’ health care overhaul plans. Those differences include the size of the bills, language governing abortion funding and how the bills would be financed. While the House bill includes a government-run health insurance option the Senate bill does not. Negotiations are expected to continue throughout January.
Since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid nearly 45 years ago, the government has separated acute medical care from personal assistance and long-term care, placing many of the most vulnerable people in the nation at risk. An obscure provision of the Senate health bill attempts to crack that barrier.
Over the next few weeks, as the House and Senate forge a compromise between their respective health care reform bills, most of the attention will be on the high-profile issues like abortion and taxes. But there are myriad other issues that, although less visible to the public, could go a long way towards determining the success of health care reform. High on this list is the seemingly technical question of what Medicaid pays primary care physicians.
