Health Care Reform: What We Can Agree On

Advisers outline cost control measures for health plan

(NEWSER) - The White House has come down firmly on the Senate's side over big discrepancies between the House and Senate health bills. Senior advisers to President Obama said yesterday an excise tax on expensive, "Cadillac" health plans and a commission to control Medicare spending were among the “four pillars" essential to containing the cost of health care reform, the New York Times reports. Both measures appear in the Senate's bill but not the House's. More»

Meeting raises questions about ties to big business

(NEWSER) - Aides to President Obama and Max Baucus met with a variety of lobbyists for corporate health care companies on April 15, to help form two industry coalitions and launch a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, Politico has learned. Though both sides insist no quid pro quo was laid out, some participants say they felt pressured to join the coalitions created at the meeting. “What were we supposed to say? No?” says one attendee. More»

System 'takes lives and breaks apart families'

(NEWSER) - Despite screeches that a government-run health care program will bump people into an early grave, "it’s a good bet that our existing dysfunctional health system knocks off far more people than an army of ‘death panels’ could, even if they did exist," writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times. The current system allows 18,000 “unnecessary deaths” yearly among the uninsured, a study found. That's one person every half hour. More»

(NEWSER) - The Blue Dogs are threatening to sink health care reform in the House for reasons that don't seem to add up, Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times. The coalition of conservative Democrats—whose support President Obama needs—is crying loudly about fiscal responsibility, Krugman writes, while at the same time calling for changes—like dropping public competition for private insurers—that would inflate the plan's cost. More»

'Now we've got to get over the finish line,' President tells Congress

(NEWSER) - President Obama today praised “unprecedented progress” in Congress on health-care reform, the Boston Globe reports. In a hastily scheduled appearance meant to galvanize support amid some signs this week of Democratic dissent, Obama said he remained “absolutely convinced” a bill would be passed this year. “The last few miles of any race are the hardest to run,” he added. More»