Obama – Page 2 – Healthcare-NOW

Obama More Flexible on Medicare Privatization Than Rhetoric Suggests

By Margot Sanger-Katz for NationalJournal – In his convention speech in Charlotte, President Obama vowed to block the Republican Medicare reform plan because “no American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies.” But back in Washington, his Health and Human Services Department is launching a pilot program that…

So Much for Fixing the Affordable Care Act Later

From Fire Dog Lake – I remember during the end of the health care reform fight how top Democrats promised activists unhappy with the bill that they would “fix it later.” I remember being told that it was very important to pass a bill despite many serious problems, design flaws and terrible compromises, because it…

E-Mails Show Depth of Obama Ties to PhARMA

From the New York Times – After weeks of quiet talks, drug industry lobbyists were growing nervous. If they were to cut a deal with the White House on overhauling health care, they needed to be sure President Obama would stop a proposal by his liberal allies intended to bring down medicine prices. On June…

Health care law faces legal, fiscal pressure

From USA Today – More than half of Americans say President Obama’s health care law is unconstitutional as it heads to the Supreme Court this month, a new poll shows. At the same time, Congress’ official scorekeeper says the law could cost a bit more and leave more people uninsured than forecast. The combined dose…

Insurance Mandate May Be Health Bill’s Undoing

From the New York Times – As Barack Obama battled Hillary Rodham Clinton over health care during the Democratic presidential primaries of 2008, he was adamant about one thing: Americans, he insisted, should not be required to buy health insurance. “If things were that easy,” Mr. Obama told the talk show host Ellen DeGeneres in…

A Tweak To Health Law Would Eliminate Medicaid For Some

By Julie Rovner for NPR – Should the middle class be eligible for Medicaid? The health program, funded jointly by the feds and the states, was devised to cover the poor. But if a provision in last year’s health law isn’t changed that could be the case for people with pretty healthy incomes. So today,…

Health Law to Be Revised by Ending a Program

By Robert Pear for the New York Times – The Obama administration announced Friday that it was scrapping a long-term care insurance program created by the new health care law because it was too costly and would not work. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said she had concluded that premiums would…

Single-payer healthcare: better care, lower cost

By Josh Starcher – Healthcare has already been proclaimed the central issue of the 2012 Presidential election, just like it was hailed the central issue of Obama’s presidency. It was also a central issue during the 2010 election, and the 2008 campaign. So why don’t we ever hear the end of it? Our leaders still…

Administration Asks Supreme Court to Rule Quickly on Health Law

By Adam Liptak for the New York Times – The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to hear a case concerning the 2010 health care overhaul law. The development came unexpectedly fast and makes it all but certain that the court will soon agree to hear one or more cases involving challenges to…

The Devilish Detail of Obama’s Speech

By John Nichols for NPR – President Obama has erected what is likely to be the left flank in the debates of the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction—the so-called “super-committee” that will define so much of this fall’s fiscal and economic discourse. That flank is sturdier than some of the president’s critics on…