Lots of good resources about the historic developments in Vermont today.
Consultant: Vt. Could Do Single-Payer Health Care, On Wednesday January 19, 2011, 5:06 pm ESTMONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Vermont could provide every resident with health insurance, upgrade outdated hospitals and still save money if would just consolidate its "chaotic" health insurance industry into a single-payer health care system, a health consultant told state lawmakers Wednesday.Harvard health care economist William Hsiao was hired by the state Legislature to come up with three possible designs for a new health care system. He said getting one entity to process claims, reforming medical malpractice and taking other steps would save $2.1 billion in health spending by 2025.
Bob Kinzel Weighs Reaction To Health Care Report
VPR's Bob Kinzel has heard some early reaction to Dr. William Hsiao's plan for health care system reform in Vermont. He says single-payer advocates are pleased with Hsiao's suggestion to implement that system by 2015. Others have voiced concern about the proposed payroll tax and are skeptical the state's unions and teachers will embrace the plan.Legislative Reaction To The Hsiao Report
Act 128 was passed by the Legislature last May. It created a commission to evaluate three health care models for Vermont. The findings were presented by Dr. William Hsiao to the Legislature on Wednesday.We hear reaction to the proposed plan for a public/private single-payer system from Senate Health and Welfare Chair Claire Ayer and House Health Care Chair Mark Larson.
Hsiao Answers Questions About Vermont Health Report | The Burlington Free Press
MONTPELIER -- Burlington Free Press reporter Nancy Remsen sat down with William Hsiao and Steve Kappel, a member of Hsiao's research team, Thursday and asked five questions to help readers better understand the health-reform recommendations he and a team of researchers proposed this week to the Legislature and Gov. Peter Shumlin.
Home :: Vermont For Single Payer
Lots of good resources about the historic developments in Vermont today.
Consultant: Vt. Could Do Single-Payer Health Care
, On Wednesday January 19, 2011, 5:06 pm EST
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Vermont could provide every resident with health insurance, upgrade outdated hospitals and still save money if would just consolidate its "chaotic" health insurance industry into a single-payer health care system, a health consultant told state lawmakers Wednesday.
Harvard health care economist William Hsiao was hired by the state Legislature to come up with three possible designs for a new health care system. He said getting one entity to process claims, reforming medical malpractice and taking other steps would save $2.1 billion in health spending by 2025.
Bob Kinzel Weighs Reaction To Health Care Report
VPR's Bob Kinzel has heard some early reaction to Dr. William Hsiao's plan for health care system reform in Vermont. He says single-payer advocates are pleased with Hsiao's suggestion to implement that system by 2015. Others have voiced concern about the proposed payroll tax and are skeptical the state's unions and teachers will embrace the plan.
Legislative Reaction To The Hsiao Report
Act 128 was passed by the Legislature last May. It created a commission to evaluate three health care models for Vermont. The findings were presented by Dr. William Hsiao to the Legislature on Wednesday.
We hear reaction to the proposed plan for a public/private single-payer system from Senate Health and Welfare Chair Claire Ayer and House Health Care Chair Mark Larson.
Hsiao Answers Questions About Vermont Health Report | The Burlington Free Press
MONTPELIER -- Burlington Free Press reporter Nancy Remsen sat down with William Hsiao and Steve Kappel, a member of Hsiao's research team, Thursday and asked five questions to help readers better understand the health-reform recommendations he and a team of researchers proposed this week to the Legislature and Gov. Peter Shumlin.
Home :: Vermont For Single Payer
House Republicans launch healthcare law push
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the House of Representatives on Thursday launched a plan to replace President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul "branch by branch" with measures they say would bring down soaring costs.
"The tree is rotten, you cut it down. If we can't cut it down and succeed doing that all at once, we'll prune it branch by branch," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp.
His is one of four committees tasked on Thursday with rewriting the healthcare law.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_usa_healthcare_republicans/print
House Republicans Plan Their Own Health Bills
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON — Less than 24 hours after voting to repeal the new health care law, House Republicans said Thursday that they would pass discrete bills to achieve some of the same goals, but with more restraint in the use of federal power.
At the same time, the speaker, John A. Boehner, said House Republicans would push for much stricter limits on abortion in federal programs, including those created by the new law.
By a vote of 253 to 175, the House on Thursday directed four committees to draft legislation that would replace the health care law. The directive sets forth 13 objectives.
Take heart
By Tom Toles
Poll Finds Wariness About Cutting Entitlements
As President Obama and Congress brace to battle over how to reduce chronic annual budget deficits, Americans overwhelmingly say that in general they prefer cutting government spending to paying higher taxes, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
Yet their preference for spending cuts, even in programs that benefit them, dissolves when they are presented with specific options related to Medicare andSocial Security, the programs that directly touch the most people and also are the biggest drivers of the government’s projected long-term debt.
The Deficit We Want
By DAVID LEONHARDTWe have come to believe a story about the deficit that is largely not true.
It’s a comforting story, to be sure. It holds the promise of a painless solution, because it suggests that the country’s huge looming deficits are not really our fault. Instead, they seem to stem from weak-willed politicians, wasteful government programs that do not benefit us and tax avoidance by people we have never met.
In truth, the coming deficits are a result, above all, of the fact that most Americans are scheduled to receive far more in Medicare benefits than they have paid in Medicare taxes. Conservative and liberal economists agree on this point. After Medicare on the list of big, growing budget items come Social Security and the military.
Northeast Hospital Ponders Sale, Merger
Northeast Hospital Corp. in Beverly is exploring a merger or sale to a larger health care system, a move that would accelerate a trend toward hospital consolidation in Massachusetts and reshape the health care landscape on the North Shore and Cape Ann.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Massachusetts Says New Pay Plan Working
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts says its new system of paying doctors a fixed amount per patient improved care during the first year, contrary to critics’ fears that patients would be harmed.
Eugene Robinson - The GOP's Rude Awakening On Health-Care Repeal
The GOP's rude awakening on health-care repeal
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, January 21, 2011;
Friday, January 21, 2011;
This whole health-care thing isn't quite working out the way Republicans planned. My guess is that they'll soon try to change the subject - but I'm afraid they're already in too deep.
Charles Krauthammer - Everything Starts With Repeal
Suppose someone - say, the president of United States - proposed the following: We are drowning in debt. More than $14 trillion right now. I've got a great idea for deficit reduction. It will yield a savings of $230 billion over the next 10 years: We increase spending by $540 billion while we increase taxes by $770 billion.
He'd be laughed out of town. And yet, this is precisely what the Democrats are claiming as a virtue of Obamacare. During the debate over Republican attempts to repeal it, one of the Democrats' major talking points has been that Obamacare reduces the deficit - and therefore repeal raises it - by $230 billion. Why, the Congressional Budget Office says exactly that
Blue Shield Refuses To Delay Rate Hikes
Defying California's new insurance commissioner, Blue Shield of California has refused to delay controversial health insurance rate hikes that sparked an uproar among customers seeing successive increases that could total as much as 59%.
Instead, the nonprofit insurer said it would submit its latest increase — effective March 1 and averaging 15% — for review by an outside expert. It pledged to issue refunds to customers if errors are found in its paperwork.
"To establish trust and confidence in our rate-setting process, we have taken the unprecedented step of agreeing to be bound by the conclusions of an independent third party," Blue Shield Chief Executive Bruce Bodaken said in a statement.
Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones assailed Blue Shield's move. He discounted its action as "unprecedented," noting that a new state law requires insurers to obtain independent actuarial reviews of their rate filings.
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