Daily news digest

This frequently updated news digest on the subject of Health Reform highlights key articles from major journals and news publications. The digest is a free service of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All rights reserved. Sign up to receive the digest free via e-mail.

Nov 20, 2009 Culture Clash in Medicine
New York Times, Kevin Sack, 11/20/2009
This week, the science of medicine bumped up against the foundations of American medical consumerism: that more is better, that saving a life is worth any sacrifice, that health care is a birthright.

Nov 20, 2009 A Consumers' Guide To The Health Reform Bills
Kaiser Health News, Julie Appleby, Mary Agnes Carey, Phil Galewitz & Jordan Rau, 11/20/2009
The health care overhaul debate in Congress now centers on two bills: the House measure and the Senate Democrats' version unveiled Wednesday. They differ in important ways. Here are answers to questions you may have about the bills:

Nov 20, 2009 House OKs $210 Billion to Help Out Doctors
Associated Press, Erica Werner, 11/20/2009
The Democrat-controlled House voted Thursday to add more than $200 billion to the deficit to prevent steep Medicare payment cuts to doctors, a move Republicans denounced as a political payoff.
Nov 20, 2009 Reid Pushes For Votes on Health-care Bill
Washington Post, Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray, 11/20/2009
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid worked Thursday to nail down the votes needed to move to a final debate on health-care legislation, but a tepid assessment of the public insurance plan he crafted emerged as the latest potential obstacle to the passage of the far-reaching changes.
Nov 20, 2009 Married Couples Face Extra Tax in Senate Health Care Bill
Washington Times, Stephen Dinan and David M. Dickson, 11/20/2009
Senate Democrats' health care bill would create a new marriage penalty by imposing a tax on individuals who make $200,000 annually but hitting married couples making just $50,000 more.
Nov 20, 2009 Democrats Woo Voters With New Benefits
Wall Street Journal, Greg Hitt and Naftali Bendavid, 11/20/2009
Senate Democrats touted the immediate benefits their health bill would bring to some Americans, aware that the cost and reach of the bill may already be turning off some voters ahead of the 2010 elections.
Nov 20, 2009 San Francisco's Health Care A Model During Debate
Associated Press, Juliana Barbassa, 11/20/2009
This city did not wait for Washington's health care overhaul.
Nov 20, 2009 Who's Afraid to Debate Health Reform?
New York Times, Editorial, 11/20/2009
The health-reform legislation unveiled Wednesday night deserves to be considered on the Senate floor.
Nov 19, 2009 Reid Uncertain of Tally as Health Bill Heads for Rare Saturday Vote
The Hill, Jeffrey Young, 11/19/2009
The Senate is headed for a rare Saturday vote to advance its major healthcare reform bill without a guarantee of success, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) indicated Thursday.
Nov 19, 2009 Wrong Side of History
New York Times Op-Ed, Nicholas D. Kristof, 11/19/2009
Critics storm that health care reform is “a cruel hoax and a delusion.” Ads in 100 newspapers thunder that reform would mean “the beginning of socialized medicine.”

Nov 19, 2009 Rising Prices of Drugs Lead to Call for Inquiry
New York Times, Duff Wilson, 11/19/2009
Democrats in Congress asked for two separate investigations of drug industry pricing Wednesday as they continue working on legislation to overhaul the nation’s health care system.
Nov 19, 2009 CBO: Senate's Public Option Would Enroll 3 or 4 Million People
Wall Street Journal's Health Blog, Jacob Goldstein, 11/19/2009
The CBO says three or four million people would enroll in the new, government-backed insurance plan created by the Senate health-care bill.
Nov 19, 2009 Senate Health Plan Seeks to Add Coverage to 31 Million
New York Times, Robert Pear and David M. Herszenhorn, 11/19/2009
Democratic leaders in the Senate on Wednesday unveiled their proposal for overhauling the health care system, outlining legislation that they said would cover most of the uninsured while reducing the federal budget deficit.
Nov 19, 2009 AP Poll: Support for Curbs on Malpractice Lawsuits
Associated Press, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Trevor Tompson, 11/19/2009
Most Americans want Congress to deal with malpractice lawsuits driving up the cost of medical care, says an Associated Press poll.
Nov 18, 2009 White House Backs Bill Supported by Doctors' Group
Reuters, Donna Smith, 11/18/2009
The White House on Wednesday urged Congress to pass a bill to boost Medicare payments to doctors, a step that could shore up support from an influential doctors' lobbying group for a broad healthcare overhaul.
Nov 18, 2009 Health Overhaul Sparks Debate on Future of CHIP
NPR, Mary Agnes Carey, 11/18/2009
One of the staunchest backers of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Sen. Jay Rockefeller isn’t ready to see it swallowed up by a new health insurance marketplace designed by Congress.
Nov 18, 2009 The Consequences of 'No'
New England Journal of Medicine, Arthur L. Kellermann, M.D., M.P.H. and Lawrence S. Lewin, M.B.A., 11/18/2009
In the next few weeks, Congress will determine the fate of health care reform.
Nov 18, 2009 Price Tag for the Senate Bill: $849 Billion
New York Times, David M. Herszenhorn, 11/18/2009
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is meeting with fellow Democrats to brief them on his version of major health reform legislation, which a senior Democratic leadership aide said would cost an estimated $849 billion over 10 years while reducing future federal deficits by $127 billion and covering 94 percent of Ameircans.

Nov 18, 2009 Senate Democrats Unveil Health Care Bill At Last
Reuters, 11/18/2009
After weeks of closed-door negotiations, U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid plans to unveil broad healthcare reform legislation on Wednesday with a first test vote on the package possible by the weekend.
Nov 18, 2009 The Individual Mandate Is Too Good of a Deal, Not Too Bad of One
Washington Post Opinion, Ezra Klein, 11/18/2009
"While the eventual health care legislation is likely to be a boondoggle, it at least holds out the hope of partially remedying the present system’s worst injustice," writes Ross Douthat on his new blog. Moments later, however, Ross goes on the attack against the individual mandate.
Nov 18, 2009 Germany Strains to Fund Health Care for All
Wall Street Journal, Vanessa Fuhrmans, 11/18/2009
Germany's century-old universal health-care system, a model cited by reform advocates in the U.S. Congress, is buckling under the weight of a growing deficit that has forced the government to explore an overhaul.
Nov 18, 2009 Senate Weighs Long-Term Care Program
Associated Press, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/18/2009
Senate health care legislation expected this week is likely to include a new long-term care insurance program to help the elderly and the disabled avoid going into nursing homes, Democratic officials say.
Nov 18, 2009 Mammography Outcry Points to Trouble for Healthcare Reform
Los Angeles Times, Noam N. Levey, 11/18/2009
A core tenet of the healthcare overhaul President Obama is pushing through Congress is that medical care can be improved -- and costs contained -- if the country relies more on experts to determine which procedures and treatments work best.
Nov 18, 2009 Coverage Mandate Under Fire
Wall Street Journal, Naftali Bendavid, 11/18/2009
Conservatives have opened a new front in the health-care debate with the assertion that under the Democrats' plan, people who refuse to buy health insurance could spend five years in prison.
Nov 18, 2009 Three Democrats Could Block Health Bill in Senate
New York Times, Carl Hulse, 11/18/2009
Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, says he is not sure he is ready to help a Democratic health care proposal clear even the most preliminary hurdle: gaining the 60 votes his party’s leaders need to open debate on the measure later this week.
Nov 18, 2009 AP Poll: Gov't Health Plan Divides Public
Associated Press, Erica Werner, 11/18/2009
Tell Americans that letting the government sell insurance in competition with private industry would be cheaper for them, and a majority is in favor.
Nov 17, 2009 Poll: Prevention Ranks High on Americans? Health Agenda
The Hill, Jeffrey Levi (Opinion-Editorial), 11/17/2009
On Friday, we at the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) released a new public opinion poll with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that found that the disease prevention and public health aspects of health reform are among the most popular proposals on the table.
Nov 17, 2009 Study: Injured Uninsured More Likely to Die in ER
Associated Press, Carla K. Johnson, 11/17/2009
Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study.
Nov 17, 2009 Test Vote May Come Before Holiday
Politico, Carrie Budoff Brown, 11/17/2009
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has yet to introduce a health care reform bill, but he is still aiming to schedule a key test vote by the end of the week, Senate aides said Monday.
Nov 17, 2009 AP POLL: Tax the rich to pay for health bill
Associated Press, Erica Werner, 11/17/2009
When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich.
Nov 17, 2009 Deep Divisions Linger On Health Care
Washington Post, Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, 11/17/2009
But poll finds support for key provisions of reform effort.
Nov 17, 2009 Business Foes Of Health Care Revamp Ramp Up Effort
Associated Press, Alan Fram, 11/17/2009
Business foes of health care overhaul legislation are outspending supporters at a rate of 2-to-1 for TV ads as they grow increasingly nervous over a final bill.
Nov 17, 2009 White House Healthcare Accord With Drug Industry May Be Going Sour
Los Angeles Times, Noam N. Levey and Tom Hamburger, 11/17/2009
Legislation passed by the House challenges the deal that pharmaceutical companies made with the Obama administration. They're prepared to make a stand in the Senate.
Nov 17, 2009 Capital in Suspense as Budget Director Crunches Numbers
New York Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, 11/17/2009
Most people have never heard of Douglas W. Elmendorf. But all of official Washington is waiting to hear what he has to say.
Nov 17, 2009 Limited Effect Seen in Abortion Clause
Wall Street Journal, Stephanie Simon, 11/17/2009
Restrictions on abortion coverage approved in the House version of the health-care bill likely will affect the affordability of the procedure for only a small minority of women.

Nov 16, 2009 AP Poll: Fine Print in Health Care Prompts Worries
Associated Press, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar & Trevor Tompson, 11/16/2009
What's it going to cost me?

Americans are worried about the fine print in the health care overhaul, an Associated Press poll says, and those concerns are creating new challenges for President Barack Obama as he tries to overcome doubts in Congress.

Nov 16, 2009 Health Reform's Hidden Land Mines
Politico, Carrie Budoff Brown and Chris Frates, 11/16/2009
After all the controversy over the public option, people might think that everyone can sign up right away if Congress passes health reform.
Nov 16, 2009 Health Bill Foes Solicit Funds for Economic Study
Washington Post, Michael D. Shear, 11/16/2009
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an assortment of national business groups opposed to President Obama's health-care reform effort are collecting money to finance an economic study that could be used to portray the legislation as a job killer and threat to the nation's economy, according to an e-mail solicitation from a top Chamber official.
Nov 16, 2009 Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform
New York Times, Duff Wilson, 11/16/2009
Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.
Nov 16, 2009 Healthcare Bills Could Jeopardize States' Consumer Protection Laws
Los Angeles Times, Lisa Girion, 11/16/2009
Opening the door for insurers to sell policies across state lines could allow health plans to avoid tougher requirements in places like California.
Nov 16, 2009 The Rationing Commission
Wall Street Journal, Editorial, 11/16/2009
Meet the unelected body that will dictate future medical decisions.
Nov 16, 2009 House Health Bill Includes Medicaid Relief For States
Washington Post, Aaron C. Davis, 11/16/2009
Expansion of coverage would come with $23.5 billion in aid.
Nov 15, 2009 In House, Many Spoke With One Voice: Lobbyists'
New York Times, Robert Pear, 11/15/2009
In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.
Nov 15, 2009 Reform and Medical Costs
New York Times Opinion, 11/15/2009
Americans are deeply concerned about the relentless rise in health care costs and health insurance premiums.

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