News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
The Basics Of The Ruling by Digby , OurFuture.org | June 28, 2012
In plain English, from Scotusblog: Amy Howe: In Plain English: The Affordable Care Act, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, is constitutional. There were not five votes to uphold it on the ground that Congress could use its power to regulate commerce between the states to require everyone to buy health insurance. read more »A Subprime Mortgage For Your Mouth: Private Equity's "Market-Based" Dental Care Solution by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | June 27, 2012
The hubby and I were channel surfing last night and ended up watching Frontline. The feature story was "Dollars and Dentists". The more I watched, the more stomach churning it got. If the Supreme Court does a number on health care reform, this model could be waiting in the wings. No wonder conservatives don’t have a plan to "replace" health care reform. They don’t need one. Private equity firms are already test driving a "market-based" solution. read more »Will We Love The Health Care Law If It Dies? by E.J. Dionne, The Washington Post | June 25, 2012
Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court may make possible something that has yet to happen: an honest and complete discussion of the Affordable Care Act. And if it throws out all or part of the law now popularly known as “Obamacare,” we will need a fearless conversation about how a conservative majority of the court has become a cog in a larger right-wing project to make progressive political and legislative victories impossible. And here is where the court’s reintroduction of the health-care issue into the political debate could be turned into a blessing by allies of reform, provided they take advantage of the opportunity to do what they have never done adequately up to now. They need, finally, to describe and defend the law and what it does. read more »Putting Health Care On The Right Track by Donald M. Berwick, The Washington Post | June 22, 2012
Robert Samuelson castigated President Obama in a recent column for a lack of “judgment” in getting his landmark health-reform law passed. I profoundly disagree. Obamacare is helping our nation achieve health care that is excellent, accessible to all and affordable. In the 17 months that I led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), I saw how this law is helping tens of millions of families and is finally putting our health-care system on the right track. Samuelson is right to be concerned about health-care costs. We’ve been on an unsustainable path for decades. Some people believe that the only way to address this problem is to shift costs to consumers. Obamacare has a far better approach: reduce health-care costs by providing better care and promoting better health. read more »The U.S. Supreme Court And Obama's Healthcare Reform: What's At Stake by Dahlia Lithwick, The Guardian | June 22, 2012
If the supreme court strikes down the mandate or the entire law, there will be constitutional fallout, in addition to the political and policy uncertainty. It will mean that a widespread agreement about how and why the federal government can regulate economic matters, which had been settled as a constitutional matter since the 1930s, may be in doubt. And should the court strike down the Medicaid expansion, the legality of other federal-state partnerships will also be in doubt. While there is nothing certain about what might happen to the president's signature healthcare legislation in the coming days, or what it will mean for Americans and their access to healthcare in the years ahead, it is not at all in doubt that a supreme court that has tried to avoid being an election-year issue every four years will become a debate topic and stump speech, and perhaps even a bumper sticker, very soon. read more »Unpopular Mandate by Ezra Klein, newyorker.com | June 22, 2012
On March 23, 2010, the day that President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, fourteen state attorneys general filed suit against the law’s requirement that most Americans purchase health insurance, on the ground that it was unconstitutional. It was hard to find a law professor in the country who took them seriously. Orin Kerr, a George Washington University professor who had clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, said, “There is a less than one-per-cent chance that the courts will invalidate the individual mandate.” Today Kerr puts the chance that it will overturn the mandate at closer to “fifty-fifty.” The Republicans have made the individual mandate the element most likely to undo the President’s health-care law. The irony is that the Democrats adopted it in the first place because they thought that it would help them secure conservative support. It had, after all, been at the heart of Republican health-care reforms for two decades. read more »America’s Robed Radicals on the Supreme Court by Michael Tomasky, thedailybeast.com | June 21, 2012
As we gather in our respective bunkers awaiting the white smoke from the Supreme Court, I thought a little history discussion might be in order. We’ve heard conservatives say many times that the Warren Court overreached, legislated from the bench, and divided America. It’s typically called the most controversial court in American history, and we know the reasons why. But the numbers tell a very different story. Even though Roberts has reigned on Maryland Avenue for just seven years as opposed to Earl Warren’s 16, the Roberts nonet (more accurately, quintet) has issued far more aggressive and in-your-face 5-4 rulings on controversial and high-profile cases and done far more to divide the country. I don’t know what they’ll do on health care, but they already deserve to displace the Warren Court in the controversy sweepstakes. read more »Big Money In Politics Harmed Healthcare Legislation by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | June 14, 2012
Why is the health care law so messed up, and why didn't it include at least a public option? read more »Pregnant From A Rape? That's Double Tough Luck If You're A Servicewoman Seeking An Abortion by Meteor Blades, dailykos.com | June 13, 2012
Imagine for a moment that you're a soldier who gets pregnant from a rape. You want an abortion. If you were an employee of the State Department, your government health insurance would cover the cost. But because you're in the Army, it doesn't. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the New Hampshire Democrat, wants to change that. Her amendment to do so as part of the 2013 defense authorization bill passed the Senate Armed Services Committee late last month. But she has run into an obstacle: House Republicans. They want to keep things the way they are. The way things are is that thousands of American servicewomen report being assaulted each year, according to the military's own surveys. But given that the Pentagon estimates only one in seven rapes is reported, the actual number is several thousand a year. Thus, the number of pregnancies from rape in the military is several hundred a year. read more »Romney's Health Care Plan — Or Lack Thereof by Ezra Klein, The Washington Post | June 13, 2012
On Tuesday, Mitt Romney outlined his plan to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. Normally, the rest of this post would go into mind-numbingly granular detail on Romney’s plan. But as of now, there aren’t enough details to go into. The most comprehensive document the campaign has produced reads more like notes toward a plan than an actual plan. The part explaining what Romney would do spans 330 words. Those words are enough to lay out a basic vision. But the key to his plan comes in these nine words: “End tax discrimination against the individual purchase of insurance.” The problem is, there aren’t any words after that. The health-care system today is basically built atop the tax deduction for employer-based health care. That’s why most Americans under 65 who have health care have it through their employer. But how you end that deduction matters quite a lot. read more »
The Latest
Study Says Uninsured Costly To All, Associated Press | May 28, 2009
The average family with health insurance shells out an extra $1,000 a year in premiums to pay for health care for the uninsured, a new report finds. And the average individual with private coverage pays an extra $370 a year because of the cost-shifting, which happens when someone without medical insurance gets care at an emergency room or elsewhere and then doesn't pay. read more »
Study: Governments’ Drug-Abuse Costs Hit $468 Billion, The New York Times | May 28, 2009
Government spending related to smoking and the abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs reached $468 billion in 2005, accounting for more than one-tenth of combined federal, state and local expenditures for all purposes, according to a new study. read more »
Flu Scare Reveals Strapped Local Health Agencies , Associated Press | May 27, 2009
Swine flu fell short of a full-blown international crisis, but revealed the precarious state of local health departments struggling with cutbacks as well as increased demand from people who have lost jobs and medical insurance. Stung by the lean economy, 13 states and U.S. read more »
Congress to Consider Paid Sick Leave, upi.com | May 22, 2009
Legislation to be introduced in Congress would guarantee U.S. workers up to seven paid sick days a year, the bill's sponsors said. A similar plan was rejected by Congress while George W. Bush was president, but backed by President Barack Obama when he was a U.S. senator and presidential candidate. read more »
Activists Seek Probe of Health Insurers, Associated Press | May 20, 2009
Activists backing President Barack Obama's health care overhaul are asking the Justice Department to open a wide-ranging investigation of what they say is monopoly-like power in the hands of major insurers. read more »
Insured Workers Pay More For Health Care, money.cnn.com | May 19, 2009
More employers are citing the recession for shifting a bigger portion of their health care costs to employees in 2009, an industry report said. American workers have seen an average increase of 10.6% over the past year in the amount they spend on health care services, according to health care consulting firm Milliman's fifth annual Milliman Medical Index. read more »
Recession Threatens Progress in Child Well-Being, Reuters | May 18, 2009
Hard economic times are hitting the United States' youngest citizens, threatening to roll back decades worth of gains in health, safety and education, according to a report. It suggests the country's most severe recession in a generation, which has cost more than 5 million American jobs since it began in late 2007, is having a drastic impact on children. read more »
Health Industry Offers $2 trillion in Cuts, boston.com | May 11, 2009
Volunteering to "do our part" to tackle runaway health costs, leading groups in the healthcare industry have offered to squeeze $2 trillion in savings from projected increases over the next decade, White House officials said. read more »
Rangel Bars Taxes on Workers’ Health Care, The New York Times | May 7, 2009
The top tax-writer in the House of Representatives said that there was “no way” he would support taxing employer-provided health benefits, Americans’ leading source of coverage. The comment came from Representative Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, after a committee hearing with the new secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius. Mr. read more »
Health Insurers Agree to End Higher Premiums for Women, The New York Times | May 6, 2009
Insurance companies offered to end the practice of charging higher premiums to women than to men for the same coverage. Karen M. Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, made the offer in testifying before the Senate Finance Committee. It was the latest concession by insurers as Congress drafts legislation to overhaul the $2.5 trillion health care industry. read more »
