May, 2009

The average U.S. family and their employers paid an extra $1,017 in health care premiums last year to compensate for the uninsured, according to a study to be released today by an advocacy group for health care consumers.

President Obama said if Congress doesn't deliver health legislation by year's end, the opportunity will be lost.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) is circulating the outlines of sweeping health-care legislation that would require every American to have insurance and would mandate that employers contribute to workers' coverage.

President Obama predicted travails ahead for the struggle to pass healthcare reform but offered a hopeful outlook for passage of legislation providing access to insurance coverage for all, saying that "the stars may be aligned" for a deal on a goal that eluded the last Democratic president.

WASHINGTON � A new tax on employer-provided health insurance is emerging as a likely option to finance an overhaul of the nation's health-care system, key Democrats say, despite opposition from

Hill Republicans are expected to submit their first health care reform proposals Wednesday with a plan for state health insurance market exchanges that provide insurance options to everyone and a tax credit to help cover the costs.

Game on. On May 13, President Barack Obama announced that 'we don't have any excuses' for not passing health reform legislation this year.

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Massachusetts General Hospital launched a pathbreaking effort to cut medical costs by reducing hospital stays and emergency room visits by the frail elderly - an initiative that underscores just how hard it will be for the medical industry to make good on its promise to President Obama to pare healthcare spending by $2 trillion over the next decade.

When President Obama won approval for his $787 billion stimulus package in February, large sections of the 407-page bill focused on a push for new technology that would not stimulate the economy for years.

The Hill is a congressional newspaper that publishes daily when Congress is in session, with a special focus on business and lobbying, political campaigns and goings on on Capitol Hill., The six healthcare industry groups that promised President Obama they would find ways to reduce national healthcare spending by $2 trillion over 10 years reaffirmed their commitment to that goal Friday.

The deep economic recession has brought the days of reckoning for Social Security and Medicare much closer, with Medicare's program for hospital stays already running in the red and Social Security expected to start taking in less cash than it pays out beginning in 2016.

WASHINGTON -- Most people with job-based health insurance don't think of their benefits as a form of income. But Uncle Sam might just change that.

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The Obama administration on Monday proposed $58 billion in additional taxes to offset budgeting errors that overstated revenues in the president's plan to finance health care reform.

President Obama will announce today that the health care industry will try to cut $2 trillion in expenses over the next decade to slow the rising cost of medical care, two White House officials familiar with the plan said.

As commencement ceremonies get under way, graduates have more to worry about than a lousy job market. Graduation often marks the end of insurance coverage for young adults under their parents' employer-sponsored plans. Even graduates lucky enough to find jobs could end up in positions that don't provide health benefits.

Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said Wednesday that he left a lunch with President Barack Obama satisfied that the president wants bipartisan health care legislation. But just in case Democrats opt to act on their own, Grassley said he feels obligated to put together a Republican alternative.

After winning most battles during his first 100 days, President Obama has begun to hit hurdles in Congress over the twin pillars of his domestic agenda, taking flak from his party's left for not going far enough on health care and seeing his greenhouse gas emissions plan stalled by moderate Democrats and regional concerns.

It was the latest concession by insurers as Congress drafts legislation to overhaul the $2.5 trillion health care industry.

The number of seniors getting antipsychotic and dementia drugs doubled between 1996 and 2006, a new study found. In addition, rates also increased in adults and children.

Congress may well enact a comprehensive health reform bill this year, but it does not appear that it will include a permanent new policy in the area that has driven health legislation for the better part of a decade: Medicare physician payments.

Wal-Mart is expanding a prescription-drug program for employers, heating up a rivalry among drug retailers.