Does Abstinence-Only Education Work After All?
During the Bush years, when abstinence-only education got an unprecedented boost in federal money, many liberal critics pointed to studies showing such programs failed to delay sexual activity among teenagers and had a negative impact on condom use. But a new study released this week seemed to turn this consensus on its head, as Hanna Rosin explains on the XX Factor: READ MORE >>
Grijalva: Use Reconciliation to Pass Reform
As Democratic leaders scramble to salvage the imperiled reform bill, Congressional liberals seem increasingly wary about a plan that would ask the House to pass the current version of the Senate bill and send the bill directly to Obama’s desk. “The House needs to be very careful about not merely rubber-stamping the Senate bill and sending that to the president… I just don’t think it’s wise policy or wise politics to merely regurgitate [it],” Rep. Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told me this morning. READ MORE >>
The Kennedy-Brown Convergence
Politico’s Patrick O’Connor reports that the biotech lobby is threatening to back Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown’s bid for Senate in a last-ditch effort to strengthen in its hand in the health-care negotiations: READ MORE >>
Will it Matter if Pharma Turns Against the Bill?
The pharmaceutical industry is now threatening to jettison the reform bill if Democrats decide to roll back the legislation's 12-year exclusivity period for biologic drugs, as Obama is pushing for in the final negotiations. READ MORE >>
Pharma's Endgame
As top Democrats wrapped up a marathon meeting with Obama this evening, other signs of their endgame for the bill also began to emerge. CongressDaily’s Anna Edney reports that Democratic leaders are pushing Big Pharma for more than they originally settled upon in the Senate bill: READ MORE >>
Now Comes the Hard Part
Barring a last-minute political revolt or disaster, the Democratic health-care bill is still looking likely to pass within the upcoming weeks. But even after that happens, Obama’s work to bring health reform to the country will only have begun. David Leonhardt warns of the immense challenges that surround actually implementing the bill’s sweeping provisions. READ MORE >>
Medicaid (Help) For All?
Red States vs. Blue States on Medicaid
Though Republicans were among the first to assail Ben Nelson’s Medicaid carve-out for Nebraska, they’ve hardly been the only critics of the deal and the bill’s expansion of the entitlement program. In recent weeks, Blue State governors and other officials have piled on the Democratic leaders of the reform effort for forcing their states to pony up too much for the Medicaid expansion. READ MORE >>
Watching and Waiting
A Deal on Immigration?
Christina Bellantoni has the scoop today on a potential deal between the White House and legislators who oppose the immigration restrictions that are in Senate version of the health care bill: READ MORE >>
