President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders are still vowing to finish a comprehensive health care overhaul and make good on their top domestic priority. But the legislation has stalled as Democrats sort through a thicket of procedural and policy problems. Read more »
The national health expenditures are projected to have risen to $2.5 trillion in 2009, or 17.3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, boosted by spending on public health programs amidst a deepening recession, according to a new government study.
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President Obama delivered a lengthy defense of the need for a wide-ranging, comprehensive health care overhaul in his remarks at a New Hampshire town hall meeting, and took responsibility for not living up to his campaign pledge that negotiations would be televised on C-SPAN.
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Even as they try to resuscitate their comprehensive health care overhaul, House Democrats are planning to take another swipe at the insurance industry with legislation that would strip its exemption from federal antitrust law. Read more »
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said that his work on developing a Democratic bill to increase jobs may include short-term fixes to prevent cuts in Medicare payments to doctors and for outpatient rehabilitation services.
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President Obama's quest to overhaul the nation's health care system may remain stuck in Congress, but he proposed a 2011 budget of $81.3 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services that takes other routes to expand access to care, such as new community health centers. In addition, the president would increase federal commitments to biomedical research and launch payment system pilot programs for Medicare. Read more »