The Latest News on the Obama Administration's Plans for Healthcare Reform
Pundits, analysts, and other industry observers have been weighing in with their thoughts on what the President's proposals will call for, what effect they may have on the nation's healthcare system, their chances of being enacted, and how we're going to pay for it all.
In the wake of President Obama’s meeting this week with leaders in the hospital, drug, and insurance industries in an effort to, as the New York Times put it, “build momentum for his ambitious healthcare agenda,” and with Congressional leaders promising to bring “sweeping” healthcare legislation to the floor by the end of the summer, pundits, analysts, and other industry observers have been weighing in with their thoughts on what the President’s proposals will call for, what effect they may have on the nation’s healthcare system, their chances of being enacted, and how we’re going to pay for it all.
How ObamaCare Will Affect Your Doctor
Scott Gottlieb of the Wall Street Journal says we can “expect longer waits for appointments as physicians get pinched on reimbursements.”
Obama Push to Cut Health Costs Faces Tough Odds
Robert Pear of the New York Times reports on President Obama’s meeting with healthcare industry leaders at the White House that took place on Monday, May 11.
David Whelan and Brian Wingfield says that “Obama-care has a price tag but no plan.”
Closing Arguments: Obama Care vs. Clinton Care
ABC’s Nightline team opens the discussion board for those who would like to weigh in on the differences between the Clinton administration’s failed healthcare plan and President Obama’s recent efforts.
Where Will $2T In Health Care Savings Go?
CBS News correspondent Stephanie Condon explores where the $2 trillion in savings over the next decade will ultimately end up.
Obama Gains Momentum on Health Care?
Len Nichols, Henry E. Simmons, Ralph G. Neas, Rick Scott, Robert Shrum, Thomas Miller, and Robert E. Moffit offer up their analysis of the President’s summit with healthcare industry leaders.
William D. Balgord, PhD, of the Columbia Daily Tribune, says that “Obama care” will “dilute the private sector independent doctors, hospitals and insurance companies with a massive expansion of government programs.”
With Healthcare Groups at the Table, Analysts Urge Caution on Industry Promises
Fox News reporter Judson Berger cautions that “insurers and providers are wary about the possibility of a government-backed public plan, which Democrats are pushing as one component of comprehensive health care reform.”
Obama: Healthy Employees, Healthy Profits
ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper comments on President Obama’s touting of efforts by companies like Microsoft, Safeway, and Johnson & Johnson to promote improved employee health, but says that “while it seems quite nice that these companies take such an interest in the well-being of their employees, perhaps the reasons for the innovative measures are not 100 percent benevolent.”
Congress Wrestles with Financing Obama’s Health Plan
On Bloomberg.com, Brian Faler writes that “The most vexing question Congress faces in the battle over President Barack Obama’s health-care proposal is how to pay for it.
Change in Estate Tax Suggested to Pay for Healthcare
The New York Times’ Jackie Calmes writes about how the Obama administration is struggling to find ways to pay for a signature healthcare overhaul, and that they have “proposed to raise nearly $60 billion more over 10 years mostly from tightening rules for inheritance taxes affecting the wealthiest estates.”
$58 Billion in Taxes Sought for Healthcare
Jim Puzzanghera and Mike Dorning of the Chicago Tribune report that “the Treasury Department plans to raise $58 billion in taxes over the next 10 years targeting mainly securities dealers, life insurance firms and large estates and to close $210 billion in tax loopholes for multinational corporations.”
Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, says there is “real movement in the Senate on the issue of taxation of health benefits,” which will likely “take the form of taxing everyone’s benefits above a certain threshold or taxing all health benefits for higher income people.”
