Washington Health Policy Week in Review

With Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton likely headed to Foggy Bottom in January, Sen. Jeff Bingaman has been tapped to replace her as head of a health care insurance reform working group.

Health care overhaul will be a priority for President-elect Barack Obama, but a new set of cost estimates by the Congressional Budget Office lays out more than a few fiscal challenges for lawmakers hoping to write legislation.

Health care coverage and quality could be improved by reducing the oversupply of health care services in high spending regions of the country, promoting organized systems of care and giving patients more information about the full range of treatment options available, according to a new Dartmouth Atlas white paper.

Retail clinics are convenient and keep costs low for many patients, but the vast majority of Americans have never visited one, several reports have found.

State officials in California, looking to patch a gaping hole in the state's budget, will try in 2009 to cut costs by scratching ineligible recipients from its Medicaid rolls. But those efforts may actually wind up costing the state more, according to a new study.

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who chairs a subcommittee that will be influential in efforts to overhaul the health care system, said that any plan must include a new government-run health insurance option, modeled on Medicare, that would compete with private insurers.