Forget Health Reform—We Can't Afford It

(NEWSER) - President Barack Obama asked Americans to put no stock in "outlandish rumors" that health care reform will "promote euthanasia, or cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care," in his weekly radio and Internet address today. "That's simply not true." Politico noted that Obama was vague about who was behind the "misleading information" but maintained that "it is important for you, the American people, to have all the facts.” 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»

Donald Berwick says 20-30% of health care spending helps no one

(NEWSER) - Between 20% and 30% of all US health care spending is pure “waste,” according to departing Medicare and Medicaid chief Donald Berwick. “Much is done that does not help patients at all, and many physicians know it,” Berwick said in an interview with the New York Times on Thursday, his last day on the job. He cited overtreatment of patients, the failure to coordinate care, complex administrative systems, burdensome regulations, and fraud as the main reasons for the “extremely high level of waste.” More»

Governors battle Washington over measure in health reform law

(NEWSER) - America's 29 states led by Republican governors are asking Washington to give them the green light to cut thousands from Medicaid—without being penalized. The health care reform law says that states that reduce eligibility for the program will lose federal funding, and these cash-strapped states (along with, quietly, some Democrat-helmed ones) want the federal government to waive the rule. More»

State budget cuts are wiping out the effects of the stimulus

(NEWSER) - The success of the Obama stimulus in creating jobs has been broadly, and furiously, debated—and will continue to be as the election season nears. But Ezra Klein argues today that in the end it's the "anti-stimulus"—the massive constriction of state budgets—that will decide our economic fate. Budget gaps in 46 states have led them to slash jobs and/or raise taxes, overwhelming the effect of the stimulus. "In an effort to do right by the numbers, they're doing wrong by the economy." More»