If, as many analysts say, a pragmatic and bipartisan approach is essential to rebuilding the U.S. health system, what better place to begin the project than the Senate Finance Committee? When Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., earnestly predicted at a hearing that the team of Max Baucus, D-Mont. and Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, could get the mammoth job done, the improbable notion had other committee members grinning, either because they thought it was cockeyed, that it might just eventually happen despite the odds, or both. Read more »
Presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton joined with House Energy and Commerce Chairman John D. Dingell to propose a huge expansion of public health insurance for children. Read more »
More than a dozen witnesses told a House panel that the New Orleans area continues to struggle with providing basic health care services more than 18 months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Medical professionals cited a shortage of both primary care physicians and specialists, a lack of hospital beds, and mental health services as major problems. Read more »
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) health care advisory panel will provide information on the latest health care research and analysis to help CBO as it expands its work on health related matters, CBO Director Peter R. Orszag said. Read more »
As Democrats consider payment cuts to Medicare Advantage plans as a way to finance an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and other priorities, they may take an even closer look at Medicare private fee-for-service plans. Read more »
Expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)—including coverage of more parents of SCHIP-eligible children—is one of the top legislative priorities this year for House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone. During a breakfast interview with health care reporters, Pallone, D-N.J., said his panel is hoping to markup SCHIP reauthorization legislation after the April recess, with cuts in federal payments to Medicare Advantage plans a likely target to finance an SCHIP expansion and other legislative priorities. Read more »
The budget blueprint approved by a Senate panel reflects a long Democratic wish list for action on health care this year with little guidance on how to fulfill it. The exception appears to be a $50 billion reserve fund the plan would create for expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program; the authors of the plan signaled that $15 billion should come from Medicare cuts. Read more »