Healthcare

Wearing Out the Public

By Justin Katz | September 3, 2009 |

Matt Allen and I touched on the legislative process on last night’sMatt Allen Show and the way in which it wears the public out as legislation moves toward law. After all this heat and energy, we still have multiple versions in the Senate over which to argue, likely with various provisions, all of which have…

Revisiting the Wheelchair Clause

By Justin Katz | September 2, 2009 |

An interesting comment was just made to my August 19 post looking at strange changes to language concerning the purchase of wheelchairs that the current healthcare “reform” would make: The supplier will no longer be able to get the lump sum payment for basic powered wheelchairs and have to wait 13 months for their 105%,…

Langevin’s Town Hall Tomorrow: A Preemptive Invitation

By Monique Chartier | September 2, 2009 |

Below is the text of an e-mail invitation to Congressman Langevin’s health care town hall in Westerly tomorrow. [Thanks to Scott Bill Hirst, a registered Republican in Hopkinton, for forwarding. I’m sure rumors that the RNC has now launched a full-blown investigation into the question of your party status, Scott, are completely exaggerated.] I wanted…

Practicing the Healthcare Reform Preach: House Resolution 615 and a Suggested Amendment

By Monique Chartier | August 31, 2009 |

Last night, a friend forwarded me House Resolution 615. Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Members who vote in favor of the establishment of a public, Federal Government run health insurance option are urged to forgo their right to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and agree to enroll…

Bradley’s Health Care “Grand Bargain” Unlikely

By Marc Comtois | August 31, 2009 |

August has been a tough month for Team Obamacare Force and prospects look pretty grim for their version of “comprehensive” amorphous health care reform. But as current Democrat politicians are being put on notice that they are in trouble come 2010, the old Warhorses are coming out to buck up the whippersnappers and remind them…

Roland Benjamin: A Saving Health Reform

By Engaged Citizen | August 31, 2009 |

It should be no surprise that great unrest arises when our representatives casually dismiss health care reform ideas that are contrary to their agenda. Senator Reed’s comment demonstrates this: Health savings accounts — another proposal dear to conservatives — are not effective for people who have lost their jobs, Reed wrote. “In addition, with the…

A Public Option, Despite It All

By Justin Katz | August 30, 2009 |

Sometimes a conclusion seems actively to grapple with the reasoning that precedes it. Such is the case with Michael Fine’s Friday op-ed in the Providence Journal. Having complained of the rampant malpractice suits that current law allows, having lamented the “3 zillion government oversight agencies, having observed that “money distorts the public process of reform,”…

A Little Further Thought on German Medical Innovation

By Justin Katz | August 28, 2009 |

Among the greatest benefits of blogging is the speed with which one often receives reminders against lazy thinking, and there was certainly a taint of laziness to one of the shorthand quips that I made while simultaneously liveblogging and videotaping the second Whitehouse & Reed healthcare community dinner: A 75-year-old from German is testifying that…

The Oregon Trail, in Healthcare

By Justin Katz | August 28, 2009 |

There are warnings related to healthcare to observe in the experience of our neighbor to the north, but we should also turn our eyes westward: You may have seen the headlines last summer, when Barbara Wagner, a 64-year-old Oregon great-grandmother with advanced lung cancer, got an unsigned letter saying that the Oregon Health Plan (OHP)…

Whitehouse and Reed Community Dinner, Take 2

By Justin Katz | August 28, 2009 |

Complete video of Wednesday’s community dinner with Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed is available in the extended entry. On a behind-the-scenes note, the tripod and new software have definitely helped. In fact, they helped so much that I was able to liveblog the meeting while filming it, which explains why it periodically takes a…