Health Care News Nov 29 - Dec 3

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News
THURSDAY
Hospitals, Labor Unions Blast Health Care Cost Cuts in Deficit Commission Plan
The health care cuts proposed by President Barack Obama's deficit commission would reach virtually every corner of society, making cost curbs in the new overhaul law look tame by comparison.

TUESDAY
Senate blocks repeal of health care provision
The Senate has rejected efforts to repeal a tax provision that helps pay for President Barack Obama's new health care law. The provision requires nearly 40 million U.S. businesses to start filing tax forms in 2012 for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods.
HHS cost rules put states in middle
With pressure mounting from lobbyists for insurance agents, state regulators are scrambling to decide whether they want to apply for exemptions from the new federal rules stating how much insurers must spend on medical costs.
House Approves One-Month Medicare 'Doc Fix'
The legislation postpones a 23 percent cut in doctors' pay scheduled to take effect Wednesday. The short-term package extends the 2.2 percent increase in Medicare reimbursement Congress approved in June through December and buys time for lawmakers to work out a longer-term fix.

MONDAY
Tax break for employer health plans a target again
The goal is to finally to turn Americans into frugal health care consumers.
House to vote on Medicare rate cuts
The House on Monday is scheduled to take up a $1 billion measure delaying by one month a 23% cut in federal Medicare reimbursements to doctors.
'Extraordinarily proud' of health care reform
President Barack Obama, in a wide-ranging, reflective interview with Barbara Walters, staunchly defended his controversial policies — including sweeping health care reforms and the massive economic stimulus package — as bold but necessary steps to help transform an economy that was at the brink of collapse into one that is "growing."

Economist Comments
MONDAY
Repeal Health Care, Make GOP Cut Costs
Spurred by incentives in the federal health-overhaul law, hospitals and doctors around the country are beginning to create new entities that aim to provide more efficient health care.
Embracing Incentives for Efficient Health Care
President Obama should let Republicans repeal health care reform and come up with their own proposals, many of which he believes would likely resemble current law.

Blogs
FRIDAY
How to Tell When ObamaCare Supporters Are Nervous
Supporters have gone to great lengths to make ObamaCare appear popular or to make repeal seem impossible.

THURSDAY
Navigating Next Steps on Health Care Reform
For many, finding reasons to repeal Obamacare is like shooting fish in a barrel. Yet while ditching the new law may look like an easy target, settling on a popular alternative is more elusive than people think.
U.S. Health Care Costs
The cost of having a baby in this country has skrocketed over the years. We just presume that you need lots of doctor visits and ultrasounds, that you will sue your ob-gyn for a zillion dollars if the baby is not perfect, etc.
Virginia Obamacare Lawsuit Dismissed
No, not the lawsuit brought by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, but rather one brought by Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.  Most notably, the district judge found the individual mandate to be a lawful exercise of Congress’s powers under the Commerce Clause because:

WEDNESDAY
Deficit reduction plan would tax health insurance
No more tax breaks for employee health insurance plans, according to Bowles-Simpson deficit plan.
What happened in 1980?
Something, for sure; this is expenditures on health as a percentage of gdp:

MONDAY
Obamacare: where are we?
Overall, the policy is shaping up to be a mess more quickly than I had thought, though not through the mechanisms I had been expecting.  It still seems to have too many jerry-rigged pressure points.

Reports
FRIDAY
The Future of Health Care Reform: Paul Ryan’s “Roadmap” and Its Critics
The future of health care in America looks grim—but it does not have to be. Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) has proposed “A Roadmap for America’s Future”—the only comprehensive plan in Washington that deals with the looming fiscal and economic crisis, driven by ever-increasing government spending on health care.

TUESDAY
Not Enough Doctors? Too Many? Why States, Not Washington, Must Solve the Problem
The states are far better equipped than the federal government to address increasingly complex and serious health care workforce issues. But by enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Congress swells the costs and role of the federal government, while ignoring the critical role that states can—and should—play as a consequence of their existing oversight of key workforce areas.