A three-justice panel for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has handed President Obama and his health care reforms an unexpected and welcome victory. Conservatives thought this would be a slam-dunk for “their team.” They thought, mistakenly, that this conservative-dominated panel would deliver yet another pounding blow to the individual mandate – that provision [...]

Premiums, copays and deductibles, oh my! I’ve been writing about health insurance for nearly 20 years and I still get confused trying to figure out the bottom line on my health coverage. In 2012, consumers are supposed to get some new, improved health plan descriptions from insurance companies, thanks to health reform. The proposed six-page [...]

It’s hard to feel good about the way Congress finally passed those provisions into law. We’re as disheartened about the way Congress functions as we are about the nation’s health care system, and we feel that it’s definitely due for major reform. But the fact is that the nation has waited far too long for the free market to solve the system’s ills – and regardless of the process, the resulting legislation at least moved us forward.

Health reform’s individual mandate provision – the requirement that all taxpayers purchase health insurance beginning in 2014 – has been struck down by a federal judge appointed by none other than President George W. Bush. What is it with America’s continuing suffering inflicted by the former President? The deficit is about to go into hyperdrive [...]

For 28 days, newly elected Rep. Andy Harris will be able to honestly tell the 761,000 people in his state who have no health coverage that he truly can identify with their plight.

This story in The New York Times reminded us of the old saw about the guy who felt bad about not having shoes until he met a man with no feet. I’d say that in this story, the United States would be the guy with no shoes – millions of uninsured and skyrocketing health care [...]

The thing I always hated about buying a car was the grueling trek from dealership to dealership to dealership, hoping to find the right make and model with the right features. Mostly, I detested the inevitable struggle to get the car salesman to reveal the real bottom-line price of the car I wanted. Yuck. Buying [...]

In the circus surrounding the Tea Party reaction to the health insurance reform bill, Republican Congressman Eric Cantor is stepping in as a ringmaster. In the midst of death threats against nearly a dozen Democrats who voted for the bill, Cantor is blaming the victims, saying they are using these threats as political fodder. Cantor, [...]

An interesting poll surfaced yesterday, revealing that – in the days since health reform legislation was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and signed into law by President Obama – more Americans have taken a favorable view of the legislation than they did before the vote. Nearly 50 percent of those polled now say [...]

The Democratic party is closing in on being on the right side of history with its upcoming vote on health care reform. It would be better if we could say Congress will be on the right side of history, but the way things have played out, the Republicans in the House and Senate have sat [...]

There’s a lot of debate today over what President Obama was saying to his supporters last night when he described what he thinks needs to happen with the health reform legislation from here on in. The point he made that seems to be drawing the most speculation is this passage: “That’s why I think it’s [...]

We don’t like the phrase, “It’s now or never,” especially when it comes to the health reform battle. If legislation doesn’t succeed now, it doesn’t mean the nation’s health care system can never be improved. Even with a complete failure by the Democrats, the system could conceivably gradually evolve into something better over time with [...]

The current status of the health reform legislation in the nation’s capital reminds of us the popular quizzes that challenge players to speculate as to whether celebrities are dead yet. If you asked opponents of health reform, they’d surely tell you that – like the failed health reform efforts of 1994 – the current Democratic proposals [...]

In the days following last week’s special election in Massachusetts, it wasn’t surprising at all to hear opponents of health reform announcing that America had – loudly and clearly – told Congress to start over on health reform. But here’s the thing: If the Democrats had barely eked out a win, opponents would have said [...]

Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic said today what a lot of liberals have been saying about the Senate bill. Basically, it’s been stretched and pulled like a gob of saltwater taffy as it morphed into something barely acceptable to barely enough Democrats, but also largely disappointing to a large contingent of other liberals (and [...]

Anyone who thought passage of a health reform bill in 2009 would be easy, given the Democratic majority in Congress, was deluded. To think that all of Congressional Democrats – and the Independents they court – would vote in lock step was just plain fantasy. But even Democrats who knew reform legislation would be all [...]

Pundits, including the Wall Street Journal, are calling it the “Grand Compromise.” It’s an agreement Senate Democrats struck late yesterday on health reform legislation that will allow those who oppose the public option to say that it’s out, while proponents of the public option can claim that it’s still in the bill – sort of. [...]

One of the things that has bugged us for months and months is health care opponents’ preoccupation with the number of pages in the health care bills that have been introduced in the House and Senate. The most recent bill to emerge is the Senate bill unveiled by Harry Reid yesterday and SURPRISE … it’s [...]

We weren’t the tiniest bit surprised by a new study on emergency care that revealed that patients who lacked health insurance were almost two times more likely to die from car accidents and other traumatic injuries than patients who had health plans. Our response: Duh. And, apparently, Kevin Drum, who blogs over at Mother Jones, [...]

There are plenty of stories out there about the nightmares already faced in the nation’s existing health care system. But folks really want to know how coverage will look after health reform legislation is passed. (We’re assuming it will be.) That why we liked this story, which examines what the current legislative proposals would mean [...]

As we pointed out the other day, there’s a lot of heavy lifting ahead for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the brave folks who are committed to enduring the process of getting health reform legislation through the Senate and beyond. Opponents have promised to filibuster the bill if it includes a public option. Some [...]

When the House passed its version of health reform legislation last week, the development may have sent chills down the spines of those who oppose the Democrats’ proposed solutions. But a quick read-through of Suzy Khimm’s piece in The Treatment yesterday should be equally chilling to folks who think the battle over health reform is [...]

You’d think opponents of health care would be content with getting Americans worked up about issues like abortion and immigration in order to bog down passage of a health reform bill, but today, bloggers and Tweeters are whispering in a really loud, gasping voice, “Jail time for folks who don’t buy health insurance?” We’re not [...]

Arkansas voters to Sen. Blanche Lincoln: “BOO!” It’s a day before Halloween, but a new poll back home should already be running a chill down Lincoln’s spine. As a so-called centrist Democrat she opposes a public option, but that puts her out of step with the 56 percent of Arkansans which support it. That number [...]

If you want to get up to speed on the House and Senate approaches to the public option, it shouldn’t take you long to dig up the info online. We’re not taking any chances, though, so the info’s right here: Reuters had an excellent summary of the House bill that was announced on Thursday. Politico [...]

Progressives are starting an unlikely love affair with the normally conservative Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. In this video, Reid asks Americans to contact their elected officials to nudge the public option over the finish line.

We’re happy to hear folks asking this question: If Democrats succeed in passing health reform legislation with an opt-out public option as included in Harry Reid’s Senate bill, would any states actually opt out? Conservatives seem to like the idea that states could take a pass on a public option provision they dread. But really, [...]

Will Democrats unite to allow an up-or-down vote on health reform legislation? Robert Creamer explained on the Huffington Post this morning why he thinks it’s in Democratic legislators’ best interests to pull together. Creamer’s reasons include, briefly: That Americans have already swung overwhelmingly in support of the public option. A vote to defeat the filibuster [...]

For a political proposal that appeared ready to be staked in the heart by its opponents just weeks ago, the public option looked surprisingly perky this week. In fact, the only thing that now sounds optional about the proposed reform initiative is the abundance of public option options being floated. The perkiness is due, of [...]

A quick look at the health reform debate this week: How’s the Senate legislation coming along? As of yesterday (Tuesday), Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) was working behind closed doors with Senate Democrats and White House advisors as they attempt to marry two Senate versions of health reform legislation: a more conservative Senate Finance Committee bill [...]

There were squeals of joy and howls of rage when Olympia Snowe crossed the aisle (or as Republicans would say “went over to the Dark Side”) yesterday to vote for the Senate Finance Committee’s version of a health reform bill. But now that it’s done, both sides might be rethinking their outbursts. The Right could [...]

This morning, United States President Barack Obama became the fourth president to win the Nobel Peace Prize, joining Theodore Roosevelt (1906), Woodrow Wilson (1919) and Jimmy Carter (2002). The Prize will be awarded in Oslo, Norway on December 10. Unlike the other four Nobel Prizes awarded annually – which recognize completed scientific or literary accomplishment [...]

A column by Thomas Frank in the Wall Street Journal made us pause and scratch our heads this week because it prompted one of those questions that we think lots of Americans must be asking themselves. The question is simply this: Are President Obama and his Democratic Party up to no good in this health [...]

Governor Arnold Schwarznegger (R-CA) has made a formal statement supporting health care reform, urging congressional Republicans to cooperate with the Democrats in forming and passing significant legislation this year. His pleas to his party-mates may stir reminders of his role as a Kindergarten Cop as many in both parties are entranced by the siren call [...]

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson hit the hornets’s nest squarely this week and then hit it again for good measure. We have a hunch he’s not about to put down his stick. Now, Rep. Grayson faces the prospect of a bunch of ticked-off Republicans who suddenly are OK with the idea of a huge debate in [...]

This week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus did a head count of its members to see whether House liberals still strongly opposed any health reform bill that would not include a public option. Word from the Hill Thursday indicated that opposition is still plenty strong. Not so strong? Blue Dog opposition to a public option, apparently. [...]

Students of history may get a chuckle when they hear Republicans define Obama’s health care plan as “socialism.”  If we look to the past, we see Obama’s plan is pretty much in line with Republican President Richard M. Nixon’s failed efforts in 1974. Like Nixon, Obama seeks to tweak America’s existing private health care system, [...]

According to a new poll published in yesterday’s New England Journal of Medicine and reported on National Public Radio, 63 percent of the nation’s doctors want health care reform to include a public option, while another 10 percent would go even further, endorsing a single-payer plan. Dropping Medicare age requirements Furthermore, nearly 60 percent of [...]

When we went to the polls last fall, middle America voted for an end to partisan bickering and for our elected representatives to confront issues together in a practical, common sense way. For better or worse, that’s what we got at the Oval Office: “no drama Obama”. In his address to Congress last week on [...]

The American public seems to be getting more and more anxious as proponents and opponents of proposed health reform engage in a seemingly unending mud fight. Is it because – as critics charge – the public option puts America on a slippery slope toward socialism? Is it because – as Democrats fear – the outcome [...]

Where do you stand on the public option? It depends on how you’re asked the question, apparently. Gary Langer, director of polling at ABC News had a really great article today that pointed out that the public’s view on the proposed public option is flapping back in forth in the wind (the wind being the [...]

Foes of health reform have turned the public option into a bogeyman. Their tactics are to stall legislation long enough for the health care industry’s misinformation campaign to erode public support for the centerpiece of health care reform. As envisioned, a public option would compete alongside private health insurance plans. It would be funded with [...]

Sometimes, I drink a little too much Red Bull in the morning and my brain goes in directions that startle even me. This morning, on my second can of Red Bull, I came up with the particularly inspired idea of a North-South Health Care Smackdown. In a nutshell, I’m convinced it’s time for a grudge [...]

One of the most interesting reactions to the ongoing health reform debate has to be the public’s revulsion at the prospect of increased government control of the health care system. I understand concerns about additional financial burdens that come with new government programs … and concerns about adding to the nation’s deficit. I get that. [...]

In a response to our last post, a reader makes the leap that the government would offer its public plan at “zero cost” putting a cataclysmic series of events into play that would destroy the private health insurance system and plunge the country into bankruptcy. This is the kind of FUD – fear, uncertainty and doubt [...]

Cartoonist Mike Stanfill cuts to the chase with this cartoon illustrating the public option. Conservatives fear the public option because it might be “too good” at delivering vital services at reduced prices, putting private health insurance companies out-of-business. Another web posting that cuts through the bull is a column in today’s Washington Post by Steven [...]

Yesterday, our blog focused on a New York Times/CBS News poll in which 69% of respondents said they “were concerned that the quality of their health care would decline if the government put universal health insurance in place.” In our blog, we also noted that while Americans may be saying (at the moment) that they [...]

This morning, I opened my email to find a news item that read “Polls show support slips for Obama’s health plan” – citing a New York Time/CBS News poll in which 69% of respondents said they “were concerned that the quality of their health care would decline if the government put universal health insurance in [...]

We’re tempted to say that President Obama got Punk’d yesterday by the Senate, as Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the Senate will not be able to get a health reform bill wrapped up before a month-long Congressional recess that starts in August. We would love to have had Congress hammer out the bill. We [...]

Some numbers to ponder, because you are paying for them: A headline in today’s StarTribune: “UnitedHealth profit soars 155%.” Advertising Age reports that 2009 spending by big pharma is $12.7 billion. Industry spending to blunt health care reform is $1.4 million a day. If you look at that empty spot in your wallet,  you’ll see [...]

It’s hard enough trying to convince Americans that it’s time for drastic health reform measures when that reform is being fought tooth and nail by the health insurance industry, which today launched a seven-figure advertising campaign to put pressure on moderate Congressional Democrats. The pressure, of course, is to urge them to help kill momentum [...]

Organizing for America, the campaign arm of the Obama machine, is targeting constituents of moderate Senators in both parties with a cable TV ad buy. We have no quarrel with the content of the ad, shown below. The stories of the people featured ring true, and this campaign serves a noble purpose in letting their [...]

If you Twitter … and if you do regular searches on the phrase “health reform” … you’ll note an awful lot of posts in the past week about how Wendell Potter, the former head of PR for CIGNA, totally validated Michael Moore’s “Sicko” during testimony before Congress and an interview with Bill Moyers. Unfortunately, those [...]

Today, a new poll in Ohio shows President Obama’s approval rate below 50 percent for the first time. Can it be due to the ambiguity surrounding his continued support of a public option for health insurance? His chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel, made statements earlier this week which seemed to signal a willingness of the [...]

Kudos to MSNBC’s David Shuster for calling out Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE)  on-air. Shuster, leading into an interview with Carper, pointed out that health industry lobbyists are spending $1.4 million a day trying to block a public option for health insurance. During the interview, he pointed out the $223,000 the insurance industry and the additional [...]

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is claiming a public option in upcoming health care legislation is now a slam-dunk with the long-awaited seating of Al Franken of Minnesota. Across the aisle, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is saying a public option will succeed only with bipartisan support. While we like bipartisan support as much as the next [...]

Democrats, time to put up or shut up. We don’t expect you to pull all 60 members of your caucus into voting for a public option, but we DO EXPECT you to be able to brush aside any filibuster designed to keep it from a vote. Congratulation Senator Al Franken of Minnesota. Our country needs your strong [...]

Since the health insurance industry stonewalled the Clinton Administration’s attempts to drastically overhaul our trainwreck of a health care system, Americans have been waiting. We’ve been waiting for something nearly miraculous: a convergence of conditions that would include a frightening global economic climate; a national realization that our system is an ineffective, unfair mess; and [...]

Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a former CEO of an insurance company, has been parroting the talking points of the health insurance industry line in opposing a public health insurance option in any health reform legislation. In an interview in early May he called it a “deal-breaker.” He’s the only Democrat to publicly oppose a public [...]

  Open letter to Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC), Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA): Last week you unveiled a proposal called “The Patient’s Choice Act of 2009,” a 14-page outline of which can be found here. After controlling Congress for 12 of the last 14 years, you have finally [...]

When France opposed our proposed invasion of Iraq, some flag-wavers in Congress renamed french fries to “freedom fries.” Perhaps the same linguistic acrobatics needs to be applied to the French health care system to make it more palatable.

It is perhaps appropriate, following the triumphant relaunch of the Star Trek franchise by director J.J. Abrams, to recall one of the most famous lines from the early movies. Spock was lying, dying, in some sort of glass tube, having exposed himself to a massive dose of radiation in order to save the ship. He [...]

President Obama has a lot on his plate. If you hadn’t already sensed the magnitude of the challenges he’s facing, the POTUS (President of the United States) spelled them out last night in his 100th-day press conference. Between bailing out the auto industry, fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, keeping an eye on North Korea [...]

Kansas Gov. Katherine Sebelius has already been tempered by the heat of battle over health reform at the state level. And that’s a good thing, considering that she’s about to jump out of the pan and into a national furnace that has charred many a would-be reformer over the years. The governor’s experience as an insurance [...]

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and sadly, they’re dead-on when it comes to this depressing statistic: that no other state in the nation has a larger percentage of residents who don’t have health insurance.

Yesterday (February 26) the U.S. Senate voted to give the District of Columbia full membership in the House of Representatives. Next week, the House votes and the legislation is expected to pass easily. We applaud this long overdue move. Due to the District’s unique position as the seat of the federal government, voters in the [...]

The New York Times is reporting that President Obama intends to choose Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for secretary of Health and Human Services. Some reports suggest she is mulling a run for the Senate in 2010 and may turn the position down. We hope she takes it . We were fans of Tom Daschle, the [...]