The following is an audio clip of Bill Hsiao's interview with Vermont Public Radio about his recently released proposals for overhauling Vermont's health care system.
Hsiao Calls Vermont's Health Care System "Broken"
Thursday, 01/20/11 12:08pm
Can Congress Mandate Health Insurance? : NPR
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia discusses efforts to repeal the health care law Wednesday. The House passed a bill to repeal the law, but Senate Democrats say they will block efforts to take it up.
Behind all the rhetoric over the health care law lies a constitutional debate over authority.
Blue Cross CEO Says Providers Must Control Health Care Costs, Or Else
The chief executive of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest health insurer, is calling on hospitals and doctors to step up efforts to contain health care costs, warning that those insisting on traditional fee-for-service contracts will face level or reduced payments from his company.
Andrew Dreyfus, who took the helm at Blue Cross Blue Shield in August, last week sent a letter to more than 400 leaders of hospitals and physicians practices, applying pressure on them to switch to a global payment plan. Under such a system, medical care providers are put on an annual budget and given incentives to control costs and improve care instead of being paid for individual doctors visits and procedures.
The Final Health Care Debate
By TOM DASCHLE
G IVEN the deep divide on health care reform in the courts, the Congress and the country, the long-term viability of this historic achievement depends in part on President Obama’s ability to reduce the tension and seek common ground. In his State of the Union message, he should say something like this:
Bills would deny MaineCare to smokers, raise smoking age
Posted Jan. 21, 2011, at 12:14 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — The assault on tobacco use is resuming on several fronts in the State House, including denying benefits for MaineCare recipients who smoke and restricting smoking in private clubs.
Details of those and other bills are not yet fleshed out, but sponsors say they want to reduce Maine’s smoking rate and drive down taxpayers’ costs of treating tobacco-related illnesses.
Sen. Thomas Saviello said Friday he decided to introduce a bill to keep people receiving MaineCare — the state’s Medicaid program — from receiving benefits at the suggestion of a constituent who also works in a rural health care clinic.
Saviello did not identify the woman but said she’s expected to testify in favor of his bill. He said she’s troubled when she sees MaineCare patients who have respiratory problems and smoke heavily, because taxpayers are subsidizing treatment for illnesses that could be avoided.
Tweaking Health Care - Bangor Daily News
As with any sweeping course change in public policy, improving, not repealing the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of last year is the task for Congress. The bill, like any that regulates a large and growing sector of the economy, is likely to be riddled with provisions that create unintended consequences or with assumptions about cost reductions that do not come to fruition. A diligent Congress must listen to those affected — large and small businesses, health care providers and consumers — and take a scalpel to parts of the law, and perform transfusions on other parts.
Where Are The Jobs? Try Health Care. | The Burlington Free Press
According to the newly published “Pulse of Vermont” study by the Vermont Business Roundtable, “no single issue stood out so prominently...as the state of the economy. In higher proportions than previously, Vermonters expressed a greater desire for job creation and were more persuaded than ever that economic growth contributes to an improved the quality of life.”
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