health reform

At least according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, the results of which were released over the weekend. From The Times:
The national telephone survey, which was conducted from June 12 to 16, found that 72 percent of those questioned supported a government-administered insurance plan — something like Medicare for those under 65 — [...]

When Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who head the committees charged with writing health reform legislation this year, vowed a few weeks back that they would introduce similar reform bills that could be easily melted into one, the skeptics howled.
How, observers wondered, would the two committees reach a compromise on the issue [...]

From House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) weekly press conference, as reported by Roll Call (subscription):
Pelosi made clear Thursday that some version of the program — “It may not be called ‘public option,’ but it will be a level playing field,” she said — is the price of admission for health care reform in her chamber. [...]

Remember just a few weeks ago when Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the upper-chamber leaders on health care reform, announced their intention ‘[to] report similar and complementary legislation that can be quickly merged into one bill for consideration on the Senate floor before the August recess?”
Good luck.
With the arrival earlier this week [...]

The Associated Press just reworked its earlier piece stemming from a morning interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. No longer does it include the secretary’s de-emphasis of the public plan, on which I just posted. Instead, it’s got her trumpeting the merits of such an option.
“I think there is a lot of [...]

So do they or don’t they?
Yesterday, President Obama stood before the nation’s largest doctors’ group and made his strongest case yet for the creation of a government-backed insurance plan to compete with private companies. Such an option is necessary, Obama told members of the American Medical Association, “[to] force waste out of the system and [...]

Until now, the debate over a government-backed insurance plan has been largely partisan, pitting Democrats who support the concept against Republicans who don’t. Today, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) reminded us that the protection of regional industries will also play a role in this fight, telling MSNBC that private insurance companies are plenty capable of ensuring [...]

This morning, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sponsor of the only Senate bill proposing a single-payer health coverage system, met with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Finance Committee, and advocates for single-payer health care.
The conclusion? Regret, on the part of Baucus, that he’d failed to invite single-payer proponents to any of the many Finance [...]

Here’s another fascinating tidbit from yesterday’s health reform message from the White House to Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.): President Obama is proposing that the recommendations passed down by the advisory panel on Medicare payment policy take effect without congressional action.
To identify and achieve additional savings, I am also open to your [...]

Credit card companies might be unpopular, and reform legislation might be inevitable. But, as Democratic leaders have learned this month, that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy. Or quick.
Indeed, Senate leaders last night announced that the upper chamber, which initially hoped to pass Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) credit card proposal last week, won’t be voting on [...]