Clinics Test Prepaid Health Plans

Don't be taken in by misinformation, warns Paul Krugman

(NEWSER) - Health care reform has made a miraculous comeback but its opponents are going to try to hoodwink the public with misinformation and lies down the home stretch, writes Paul Krugman. He outlines "three big myths" about reform in the New York Times .

• "The government is grabbing control of a sixth of the economy." Private insurance—mostly regulated, subsidized employee plans—only makes up a third of health spending. The only extra place the government is intervening now is the "disastrous" market in which people buy their own plans, he notes.

Bush to veto measure despite GOP support

(NEWSER) - A bill to boost spending on children's health insurance by $35 billion sailed through the House yesterday 265-159, despite President Bush's repeated threats to veto it. The Senate is likely to approve the bill next week. The bill would increase the current children's health insurance program by $7 billion a year over five years and cover 10 million children. More»

Action on curbs didn't make final cut, leaving 'very big loophole'

(NEWSER) - Turns out the big health care reform bill doesn't actually rein in those out-of-control premium rate hikes. The Democrats used outrage over whopping increases to corral support for the overhaul, but the bill doesn't deliver, finds the Los Angeles Times , because it doesn't give the government the regulatory authority. "It is a very big loophole in health reform," says Sen. Dianne Feinstein. More»

Dems should be ashamed of bill, but pass the damn thing

(NEWSER) - The Democrats should hurry up and pass their sorry excuse for a health bill, but they should stop calling it "health care reform," writes Michael Moore. The president and Democratic leaders should apologize to the American people for coming up with a bill that leaves 12 million people still uninsured and leaves the "greedy, private insurance industry" in charge of the plan, Moore writes in the Daily Beast. More»

Employers plan to hike premiums, copays, penalties for obese

(NEWSER) - Large companies have big plans for their employees' health plans next year: sizable premium hikes, higher deductibles and co-payments, higher charges for covering spouses, penalties for results of certain lab tests, and tighter eligibility standards that may even exclude overweight people from the most desirable health plans. That's what 507 major employers said in a recent survey about health care costs. More»