Health Care
Speaking of Individual Responsibility...
Harold Pollack is a professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and Special Correspondent for The Treatment. READ MORE >>
Medicaid: A Bargain, Not a Burden
Anthony Wright is executive director of Health Access California, the statewide health care consumer advocacy coalition. He blogs daily at the Health Access Weblog and is a regular contributor to the Treatment. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is not the only Republican Governor trying to rewrite history, distancing himself from the new federal health reform law that mirrors the proposal he once championed for his own state. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing it, too. READ MORE >>
A Few Tricks in His Doctor's Bag
As some of you you may have noticed, I took a short vacation after President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed. It seems that Obama and his advisers didn't. With the ink on the presidential signature barely dry, administration officials announced that Don Berwick would be the president's choice to run the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. READ MORE >>
Is There a Doctor in the House? Or Anywhere Else?
The Best-Covered News Story, Ever
A Rumor That Won't Die
Just now on CNN, the hosts will reading recent viewer e-mails about health care reform. Among them was an e-mail attacking the new law. If health care reform is so good, the writer wanted to know, why are politicians exempting themselves from it? I've heard critics of the bill, from Republican senators to random internet writers, say this many times. And it's frustrating, because it's not true. READ MORE >>
The House Takes One Final Vote
The House sure didn't waste any time. Just hours after the Senate passed amendments to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the House passed them, too, by a vote of 220 to 209. And that's it. Congress is done with health care reform, or at least this phase of it. All that remains is for President Obama to sign the amendments into law. READ MORE >>
And Now the Real Work Begins (Cont'd)
President Obama and his Democratic allies should enjoy the moment. This was a hard-fought victory, one not years but decades in the making. Still, there is work to be done. And some of it must begin soon. In the new issue of Time, Karen Tumulty and Kate Pickert with Alice Park sketch out the major challenges ahead. Among them are action at the state level: READ MORE >>
Senate Passes Reconciliation Bill
The Senate on Thursday afternoon passed amendments to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They used the budget reconciliation process, in which Republicans couldn't filibuster. The final tally was 56 to 43, with three Democrats (Lincoln, Nelson, and Prior) voting against one Republican (Isakson) absent due to illness. READ MORE >>
Moving Right Along
The headline today is that the House must take one more vote on health care reform. But, don't worry, the news from the Senate is almost all good. READ MORE >>
