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NHS to collect raft of data on quality of
care: Department of Health
Rebecca Smith - Telegraph
Ministers have ended
'politically-driven' targets in the NHS, mostly based around waiting
times, and instead want to focus on whether patients feel their
treatment has been successful. A new consultation document, launched by
the Department of Health, contained 100 measures ranging from emergency
admission rates, to cancer survival, to mistakes and near-misses in
patient safety. Surveys of patients' attitudes and how well they felt
their treatment went will be a key plank of the new measures. Health Care Opt-Out Vote Will Stay on
Ballot
It looks like Missouri voters will get to vote in a
referendum on the national health care plan. A Cole County judge threw
out the suit against the ballot issue. The people who challenged the
measure have decided not to appeal that decision. The ballot issue seeks
to bar governments from forcing people to buy health insurance through
the national health care plan. That conflicts with a new federal law
requiring most people to have health insurance or face fines. The issue
will appear on the August third ballot.Biden: Pelosi is the 'most strategic'
Kendra Marr and Matt Negrin - Politico
44
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
is "the mother of health care," Vice President Joe Biden proclaimed
Monday. Speaking at a campaign event in Philadelphia for congressional
candidate Bryan Lentz, Biden reworked a line of praise from Rep. Allyson
Schwartz, who said Pelosi was the most powerful woman in American
politics. "I would rephrase that: the most powerful person in American
politics with the exception of the President of the United States,"
Biden said, according to the pool report. "The single most successful,
the single most persuasive, the single most strategic leader I have ever
worked with is Nancy Pelosi." Commerce Clause, Tax Power, Whatever--Trust
Us, We Have the Authority
Damon W. Root - Reason
As noted in today's morning
links, the White House is now saying that ObamaCare's health insurance
mandate is an exercise of Congress' Tax Power. But what happened to the
argument that Congress could require every American to purchase health
insurance as part of its authority to regulate interstate commerce?
After all, that's what the Patient Protection and Affordable Act
actually says, including the declaration that "the individual
responsibility requirement...is commercial and economic in nature, and
substantially affects interstate commerce."Suing Obamacare
Douglas Smith - The
American Spectator
While the
lawsuit brought by twenty States challenging the constitutionality of
the Obama Administration's healthcare legislation initially received
much publicity, the Administration's recent response to that lawsuit has
garnered relatively little attention. However, even a cursory review of
the Administration's motion to dismiss the case presents an expansive
view of government power and a narrow construction of individual
liberties that is profoundly troubling. State plans clash with health pools
Sarah Kliff - Politico
In the early implementation of health reform, states
with the most progressive health policies are having a more difficult
experience than others locking down a share of the $5 billion of federal
funding for new high-risk pools. Five states -- Vermont, Maine, New
York, New Jersey and Massachusetts -- have "guaranteed issue" of
insurance: individual subscribers cannot be turned away because of a
health condition. Moreover, all five states have some form of community
rating, which bars insurers from charging exorbitant rates based on
health, gender and other factors. These programs have generally been
considered a boon to the uninsured, making coverage more affordable.
But, in the context of the high-risk pools, the programs appear to be
more of an obstacle, as there are likely to be fewer residents who have
trouble obtaining insurance in these states and, therefore, less demand
for the federally funded high-risk plan.Elena Kagan denies 'substantive' discussion
of health-care case
Warren Richey - Christian
Science Monitor
Solicitor
General Elena Kagan attended at least one meeting where legal challenges
to the Obama health-care reform law were mentioned, but there was no
substantive discussion of the litigation, the Supreme Court nominee told
Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. Ms.
Kagan, whose nomination is set for a committee vote on Tuesday, made the
comment in a three-page written response to 13 additional questions the
Republicans submitted last week.Abortion foes win a round in health
overhaul
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar - Associated
Press
Abortion foes have won a
round in the first test of how President Barack Obama's health care law
will be applied to the politically charged issue. Meanwhile,
traditional allies of the administration are grumbling about a decision
to ban most abortion coverage in insurance pools for those unable to
purchase health care on their own. The Catholic bishops "welcome this
new policy," said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, although he added the
organization remains concerned that other parts of the health care
overhaul will promote abortion.Primary care doctors harder to find, report
says
Elizabeth Cooney - Boston
Globe's White Coat Notes
Massachusetts
has the highest ratio of doctors per population in the country, but
that doesn't mean its residents can find a primary care physician who is
accepting new patients. It got harder to secure a slot after 2006,
according to one of three reports on health care released by the state
today. Last year 60 percent of family medicine doctors' offices were
accepting new patients, down from 70 percent in 2007, the first full
year after passage of a state law mandating near-universal health
insurance coverage. Last year only 44 percent of internal medicine
practices were accepting new patients, down from 66 percent in 2005. The
figures come from data analyzed by the Division of Health Care Finance
and Policy. UPDATE: Health Overhaul May Overshadow
Strong Managed-Care 2Q
Dinah Wisenberg Brin - Dow
Jones Newswires/ Wall Street Journal
As health insurers release earnings starting this week,
the focus will likely be on clues as to how the U.S. health overhaul
affects margins and growth. Led by managed-care bellwether UnitedHealth
Group Inc. (UNH), the sector is seen posting hardy earnings for the
second quarter. However, uncertainty over the specifics and
ramifications of forthcoming overhaul regulations likely will leave
investors nervous and stocks in flux. Investors worry that margins may
be squeezed from new minimums on what companies must spend on medical
costs. The changes also may force some players, especially smaller
plans, to exit markets. Healthcare Tuesday
Mike Lillis - The
Hill's Healthwatch
ON THE
HILL: Maybe Senate Republicans will have their shot at Donald Berwick
after all. The White House on Monday resubmitted its nomination of
Berwick to the Senate, less than two weeks after President Obama used a
controversial recess appointment to install the Harvard physician atop
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Roll Call reports.A Right Perspective: Beware the ills of
nationalized health care
Marilyn Loeffel - The
Commercial Appeal
Unless you
are into the "Who's Who" of the health care industry, you wouldn't know
Dr. Donald Berwick. But you should. Prior to this month he was a
professor of pediatrics and health care policy at the Harvard Medical
School, a professor of health policy and management at the Harvard
School of Public Health, and president and co-founder of the Institute
for Healthcare Improvement. President Barack Obama took advantage of the
congressional recess for the July 4 holiday to implement what is known
as a "recess appointment." He tapped Berwick to direct the federal
government's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Who's Telling the Truth About Health Care?
Glenn Beck - Fox News
If we're going to restore the country -- to "fix" the
problems we have -- first and foremost we must be grounded in truth. The
lies this administration are putting forth are piling up -- almost as
much as the flies. Here are just a few quick examples: President Obama
"rejected" the notion that the new health care bill was a "tax
increase": (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: Merriam
Webster's Dictionary: Tax -- "a charge, usually of money, imposed by
authority on persons or property for public purposes."Obama's Lawyers Argue that He Broke His
Pledge Not to Raise Taxes
Jeremy Weltmer - Americans
for Tax Reform
As the states
and citizens question the constitutionality of the "individual mandate"
to purchase healthcare in the legislation for Obamacare, the
administration and its legal team have radically changed their tune
recently on how they justify the mandate. Originally, Obama claimed that
it fell under the power of Congress to regulate commerce, but as that
argument has fallen flat, his Department of Justice lawyers have argued
differently in filings in the case brought by the Commonwealth of
Virginia. Now, they claim that the mandate's power stems from Congress's
power to tax, apparently extending to the power to tax inactivity.Obama Flip-Flops on the Individual Mandate
(Again)
Michael F. Cannon - Cato
@ Liberty
The individual
mandate has been a tricky issue for Barack Obama, leading him to make
some impressive self-reversals. When campaigning against Hillary Clinton
for the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama came out hard against
an individual mandate to purchase health insurance, alleging that
Clinton would garnish workers' wages and that Massachusetts' individual
mandate has left many residents "worse off":The ObamaCare lies are still coming
Michael Tanner - New
York Post
Does President
Obama have any idea what's in his own health-care reform law? Since he
signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act a bit more than
100 days ago, the president has given a number of speeches and
interviews in which he continues to say things that, well, just aren't
so. Just last Friday, he told MSNBC's Chuck Todd that the law "not only
makes sure everybody has access to coverage but is reducing costs."
Wrong on both counts.Does Obamacare mandate BMI screening?
David Thornton - Atlanta
Conservative Examiner
One of
the latest rumors to circulate on the internet about the Obamacare
nightmare is that it will require all Americans to undergo BMI (Body
Mass Index) screening by 2014. Presumably, the BMI results will be used
to ration health care in some manner as finite numbers of doctors,
nurses, and hospitals struggle to cope with unlimited demand for their
services. To find the truth, I examined the full text of HR 3590, The
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as well as its companion
bill HR 4872, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. This
takes some time, even scanning with the search function on a browser,
since the HR 3590 contains a whopping 906 pages and HR 4872 adds an
additional 55 pages.| Latest
Polling |
|
Rasmussen Reports July 19, 2010 56 percent of voters favor repealing Obamacare |