The Country's Political Center is Shifting and With it the Health Care Reform Debate

I always thought it was shortsighted for the Republicans to avoid comprehensive health care reform in the six years they controlled the White House and the Congress (2001-2006). Instead they just added $8 trillion in unfunded liability (Part D) to a Medicare system they've been telling us from the beginning is unsustainable as it is.Eventually the political pendulum swings to the other side.

Hillary Clinton's Health Plan--the Republicans Better Take it Seriously

Sometimes I think that all the Republican candidates for president think they need do is go into a crowded room and yell, "Hillary Care," and all of the voters will run for the exits in terror.This is not 1993 and this is not the inexperienced Hillary Clinton who tried to drop her drafted-in-secret 1,400 page health care proposal on us all in one "take it or leave it" roll out.She has changed

Romney Wants to Reform State Health Insurance Regulation--Just What Does He Mean by That?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is calling for the cutting of state health insurance regulations to make policies more affordable. He blames the over-regulation of health insurance at the state level as one of the primary reasons health insurance costs so much.Of course the reason that health insurance costs so much is that health care costs so much, but we’ve discussed that one

Mitt Romney's Health Plan--A Foot in Each Canoe

Up in Wisconsin's Northwoods, camp counselors play a game with the kids in which they put two canoes together in the lake and have the kids try to stand up with one foot in each canoe. As you can imagine it's an almost impossible balancing act.I was reminded of that last week sitting by our lake reading reports of Mitt Romney’s health plan proposals.Romney has two canoes to deal with:He signed,

Fred Thompson—Too Good to Be True? Thompson Says He Will Shake Things Up In the Health Care Debate

The Washington Post’s David Broder is one of those people I have only the greatest respect for. So his recent column, recounting an interview with soon to be Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, caught my eye.Broder described a Fred Thompson that sounds too good to be true:“When Fred Thompson makes his long-delayed entrance into the Republican presidential race, he will not tiptoe

Democratic Presidential Candidate Bill Richardson Announces a Health Reform Plan

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson recently announced his health reform plan.Richardson's health care proposal follows the general outline offered by other Democratic candidates in that it focuses first on getting everyone insured and falls short in getting at the fundamental problem creating so many uninsured--health care costs.Bill Richardson's health plan also builds on existing

Rudy Giuliani Announces a Health Care Proposal That Would Provide Tax Incentives for Consumers to Purchase Individual Insurance

Rudy Giuliani announced that he will be proposing a system of individual tax incentives to enable consumers to purchase individual health insurance in addition to any employer options they might have. His proposals are also designed to shift the U.S. health insurance system away from employer-sponsored coverage.Under the proposal:Giuliani is proposing a $15,000 family/$7,500 individual standard

Romney Condemns Obama's Health Plan--But Obama's Plan is a Clone of the Massachusetts Plan Romney Signed!

Mitt Romney criticized Barack Obama's health care proposal over the weekend in New Hampshire. According to The Baltimore Sun, Romney said, "Barack Obama said we're going to have the government take over health care. He at least had the integrity to say he wants to raise your taxes." He added, "The right answer is not a government takeover, it's not socialized medicine. It's not Hillarycare."

Hillary Clinton Doesn't Like Health Insurance Companies and Never Has--But Demonizing Them Again Won't Get Us Health Care Reform

At a recent health care forum attended by Democratic presidential candidates, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton observed, "The insurance companies make money by spending a lot of money employing a lot of people to try to avoid insuring you, and then if you're insured, to try to avoid paying for the health care you received... ." (Newsday 4/14/07)I'm sorry to hear her say that.Health care is

Democratic Presidential Candidate Bill Richardson Supports the Employer Mandate as a Way to Provide Health Insurance

Democratic Presidential Candidate Bill Richardson has weighed in on the health care debate with comments about what he would do on the issue:"You know, every time a Democrat, it seems, we propose a new [health care] plan, it's more spending or more taxes. I'm not that way...I would have a mandate. I would say every employer...has to have a health care plan. That's how you pay for it."Well

The Real Reason Health Care Reform is Hard—Hillary Clinton Leads the Presidential Candidates With $26 Million in First Quarter Campaign Contributions

Reading the press, it’s as though raising money for a presidential run is a sweepstakes to be won—like it’s something to be proud of.Just exactly what should we all be celebrating?Hillary Clinton leads the way with $26 million raised in the first three months of the year before the presidential election. Senator Obama is reportedly going to come in well over the $20 million figure and John

If Medicare Advantage Rates Are Going to Be Cut, Why Have the Big Medicare HMO Stock Prices Been Up Since the Election?

That question came from Matt Holt today over at his blog: The Health Care Blog.Good question.As any regular reader of this blog knows, I have been arguing that the Democratic Congress is going to cut Medicare Advantage payments to HMOs as soon as they get their hands on the federal budget.If that is a good bet, why wouldn't Medicare HMO stocks be reflecting that risk? Instead, they have generally

Deja Vu in Massachusetts--We've Been Down this Road Before--The Massachusetts Health Care Plan and Health Care Costs

The good news is that the health policy world is full of new and exciting health care reform proposals.The bad news is that while these plans focus on the all important access problems (the uninsured) they almost ignore the underlying problem that makes so many people uninsured in the first place--health care costs.With the federal government (The National Health Statistics Group at CMS)

Barack Obama is a Rookie on Health Care Policy Reform

Barack Obama was recently quoted as saying he would institute a system of universal health care by the end of his first term. He provided no other details for what would be the Obama Health Care Reform Plan.He is apparently new at this--health care reform policy and fixing America's health care problems.Apparently, he doesn't understand it is the details that matter when it comes to health care

10 Bipartisan Senators Offer a Health Care Reform Outline

Just a few weeks ago I wrote a post that began, it's a new day in the health care debate. Health care reform is breaking out all over.My point was that I haven't seen such enthusiasm for reform since the early 90's and the resulting Clinton Health Plan effort. Everyone seems to have a plan--not the least of which are offered by some very powerful bedfellows.That trend continued this week when

Mitt Romney Looking for Support Among Conservative Republicans--A Health Care Achilles Heel?

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is working hard to boost his popularity among conservative Republicans. He seems to be saying all the right things for conservatives. That, plus the longstanding suspicion conservative Republicans have had for both Rudy Giuliani and John McCane have given Romney a shot at the party's powerful conservative wing.Romney has a certain amount of health care

The Edwards Health Plan--Where Are the Other Plans?

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has proposed a comprehensive health care reform plan. (See the entire plan on his site).Good for him!It is going to be very easy for all of us to point to all the things we don't like about it.But I will suggest there is something more important for all of us to do--ask where all the other candidates, Democrat and Republican, are with their plans.It

Why the Republicans Lost

After six years of one-party government, things here in Washington were getting kind of boring.That’s already started to change.The November ElectionIn past years, I have told you that the chances the Democrats could capture the House of Representatives were low because of all the highly political gerrymandering of districts that took place in the wake of the 2000 census. That redistricting made