Health Care Reform
Health Care Reform
original 7/10/2009, updates are in {RED}
After all of this is over and the dust has cleared, these sites may help to figure out “what just happened?”
#1 http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/chart1.pdf
Non-partisan interactive chart with a comprehensive list of health care reform ideas (Republican, Democrat, and In-between)
*that link doesn’t work anymore
Here’s an excellent report on controlling costs which notes the benefits of the “episodes of care system”:
http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/nrhiseriesbettewaystopay.pdf
#2 http://www.rwjf.org/healthreform/product.jsp?id=40713
Discusses some of the proposals in #1
#3 http://mayoweb.mayo.edu/newsbulletin-rst/documents/PDFPerspective.pdf
Mayo perspective. You might have read it in a recent email from the head office. (and there have been others)
#4 http://healthreform.kff.org/
Non-partisan, non-profit called the Kaiser Family Foundation with analysis of this issue (not connected to Kaiser Permanente)
#5 http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm
A really good comparison of all the current legislative proposals out there.
this is still really good and it’s updated. when things are this complex, it’s nice to have it in chart form.
and
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/July/10/exchangesQA.aspx
Health insurance exchanges explained (kind of a big deal)
#7 http://www.rwjf.org/healthreform/
Non-partisan, non-profit called the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with analysis of this issue
the best thing on this site is “The Cost of Dying” the 60 Minutes story on this used this article as a source: http://www.rwjf.org/healthreform/product.jsp?id=52311
#8 http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9924/12-18-KeyIssues.pdf
Non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the issue (it’s long, but you could get the gist of it by skimming a few pages)
OK, so you’re not going to read that. The most important piece here is that just about everybody (republicans and democrats) agrees that the CBO is coming up with reasonable estimates. The two reasons to reform health care are to increase coverage and to lower the costs of that coverage. Both are important. For more information on cost, this is a great document: http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/8022.pdf
#9 http://healthreform.gov/index.html
President Obama’s web page devoted to the issue. (Note: his stated aim is to let congress take the lead in developing a plan, but he does list some key principles.)
#10 http://finance.senate.gov/healthreform2009/finalwhitepaper.pdf
Democratic Senate Finance Chair Baucus’s proposal for health care (the main Democratic proposal right now)
If you’re trying to figure it out from the list on #1, I think it’s mostly “Singer/Garber/Enthoven” + the ability to have early Medicare buy-in for those age 55-64.
See also #6
If you’d like to see the House Bill that passed in November, you can. It’s here in all of its 2000+ page splendor:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:H.R.3962:
If you’d like to see the Senate Bill as it is up to the moment, you can. It’s also more than 2000 pages: http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm
#11 http://wyden.senate.gov/issues/Legislation/Healthy_Americans_Act.cfm
Democratic Senator Wyden’s proposal. (Google: Healthy Americans Act)
If you’re looking at the list on #1, this one is mostly “Wicks/Meyer/Silow-Carroll”
Right wing resources
Republican Senate and House of Representative proposal. (Google: Patients’ Choice Act)
If you’re looking at the list on #1, this one is also (more loosely) based on “Singer/Garber/Enthoven” but it’s the states that run the exchanges, not the federal government.
See also #6
N/A
#13 http://blunt.house.gov/HealthCare/DearColleague.pdf
Republican Representative Health Care Solutions Group Chair Blunt’s letter outlining goals (there’s also an associated web site)
It was a little difficult to find, but I think this is the main republican page for health care reform (includes senate and house and …)
http://www.gop.gov/solutions/healthcare
#14 http://www.cato.org/health-welfare-entitlements
Conservative think tank called the Cato Institute’s ideas on the subject of health care
Here’s another interesting article:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11054
#15 http://www.cato.org/pubs/handbook/hb111/hb111-15.pdf
Cato Institute’s ideas how to make medicine better, safer, and cheaper (it might make you cringe, or not)
#16 http://www.politico.com/healthcare/
Daily updates on the issue in Washington, DC
#17 http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/site/topic.htm#reform
The AMA’s newsroll.
#18 http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/government-medicine.html
All doctors aren’t the same. The AMA has a tough road trying to represent a varied bunch. Our organization’s take on things. (Wouldn’t it suck if health care reform screwed us and gave the urologists more Porsches?)
family medicine update 
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