Senate

Medicaid and Health Care Reform

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With so much discussion and news review on Medicare spending and health insurance reforms at the center of the health care reform debate, Medicaid has taken a back-seat in terms of analysis on its programmatic impacts.  Today, Medicaid costs 76% of the cost of Medicare and covers approximately 20% of the population.  In the recently … Read more

Health Care Reform: Getting to the Details

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Its been about ten days since the House passed its version of health care reform and just now,  it is possible to unwind and assess some of the cost/price details that are buried within the 2,000 page bill.  Similarly, it is also possible for the general public to begin the process of digesting the ramifications … Read more

Health Care Reform in the House: A Post Mortem

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Late Saturday night by the slimmest of margins, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962 otherwise known as the Affordable Health Care Act for America – three votes the other way and the Bill would not have passed.  The Bill weighs in at over 2,000 pages (2,034) and represents the first major “stab” at reforming … Read more

Healthcare Reform Update: Inside Baseball Time

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If you are a baseball fan, you’ll appreciate the correlation between a baseball game and the present course of healthcare reform.  A baseball game starts with anticipation and fanfare; speeches, the throwing out of the first pitch, the national anthem and the players taking the field.  The fans settle in and the game begins with cheers … Read more

Baucus Bill Survives Committee: What Next

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The Senate Finance Committee this afternoon, on a vote of 14-9, approved the Baucus Bill out of committee, sending it theoretically to a floor vote. Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine, was the lone Republican vote in support.  The Bill, a center of recent controversy in terms of its lack of reported details, incomplete … Read more

Senate Reform Bill Budget Neutral?

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This afternoon, the Congressional Budget Office released a statement saying that the Senate Finance Committee Reform Bill (the Baucus Bill) prices out at $829 billion over ten years.  At this price-tag, given the revenue assumptions (fees, cuts, taxes, etc.) contained in the Bill, the CBO estimates that the Bill actually produces a modest deficit reduction … Read more

Senate Health Reform Bill Loses Public Option

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The Senate Finance Committee voted yesterday to eliminate the public option from its reform bill (aka the Baucus Bill) by a margin of 15 to 8. All Republicans and a hand-full of Democrats voted against inclusion. Of note, the Bill’s author, Senator Baucus voted for the removal of the public option stating that in his … Read more