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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues his efforts to find consensus on a health care package that can win 60 votes. He has asked a group of party moderates and progressives to work on several issues, including creating an alternative to the “public option” health insurance plan Reid has in his bill.
In the health reform debate, there is widespread confusion over the definition of cost–a confusion that has been hanging over this debate for the last few months and is continuing to distort it.
To get the necessary 60 votes to pass health overhaul legislation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid must resolve Democrats’ disagreements on the public option, abortion, cost and affordability.
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey reports from Capitol Hill, where the Senate voted on four amendments to the Democrats’ health overhaul bill.
Two-thirds of employers would raise deductibles, change insurers or scale back coverage to avoid the so-called Cadillac tax on high-cost benefits proposed in the Senate Democrats’ health care bill, a survey to be released Thursday by consulting firm Mercer says.
To get a sense of who’s right on cost-control, some perspective is necessary.
An independent advisory board has a new way to evaluate geographical differences in Medicare spending. Now, McAllen, Texas is no longer considered as one of the top two expensive areas in the country.
The Senate and House health care overhaul bills are each about 2,000 pages long. While the bills are mostly aimed at revamping the health insurance system, tucked in the pages are provisions that would spell big changes for the food, drug and medical device industries, too.
Facilities, which generally provide social and medical services, rely heavily on funding from state governments and charities, which have been hit hard by the recession. Advocates say the 4,000 state-licensed centers around the country provide a cost-effective alternative to nursing homes and allow caregivers to remain in the workforce.
Comparing plans can save hundreds of dollars for some consumers but many people are overwhelmed at the prospect of making such a change. Seniors have until the end of the year to revise their coverage.
According to analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, the Senate Democrats’ health care overhaul bill would substantially reduce premium costs for 57 percent of people who buy subsidized coverage through new exchanges, while rates would hold steady or decline slightly for large and small employers.
Panelists discuss the array of amendments Democrats and Republicans are expected to offer as the Senate begins debate on health overhaul legislation.
Panelists discuss the array of amendments Democrats and Republicans are expected to offer as the Senate begins debate on health overhaul legislation.
Tiring of gripes that overhaul proposals won’t slow health spending, the White House chose the afternoon before the long Thanksgiving weekend to tell reporters, essentially, “They will, so.”
Pay attention to the CLASS Act. It can not only provide better long-term care for those who so desperately need this assistance, it can also become a new way to help those in need in an era of $1 trillion-plus budget deficits. But only if it is done right.
While much of the attention paid to the Senate health reform bill has been about the public option or financing, there are many lesser-known provisions that would affect consumers.
If a Democratic health bill passes,certain individuals and small businesses initially would pay more for insurance, while others would pay less, experts predict. But the long-term outlook is less clear.
We have plenty of time to take this back to where it should have been in the first place – beginning the long and complex journey to create a health care system that pays for value.
The debate in Washington over how much the health care overhaul bills will cost has largely centered on the bottom line for the federal government. But polls repeatedly show Americans are much more concerned about how a reshaped health care system will affect their own family’s financial situation.
A poll “shows little movement in measures of public opinion” on health reform. About one-third like the current Democratic bills, another third want reform, but not what Democratic lawmakers have in mind and one-quarter think Congress should not spend time on the issue now.
