Archive for January 26th, 2012
Blogger vs. Blogger: Why Didn’t Obama Spend More Time on Health Reform?
President Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday spent little time discussing health care and the federal health reform law. Obama’s speech included just 44 words on health reform, far fewer than in his previous addresses.
Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post‘s “Wonkblog”and Forbes‘ Robert Book had different conclusions on why Obama said so little about the overhaul.
AHL’S TOP STORY: GOP Will Release Alternative Health Reform Plan After Supreme Court Rules on Overhaul
House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chair Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) yesterday said that the GOP will release an alternative to the federal health reform law after the Supreme Court rules on the law’s constitutionality, Politico reports (Haberkorn, Politico, 1/25).
Republicans last year unsuccessfully attempted to repeal the reform law, as well as some of its individual provisions (American Health Line, 7/6/11). However, the “replace” portion of their “repeal and replace” strategy never came to fruition (Baker, “Healthwatch,” The Hill, 1/25).
Pitts said, “We will be ready to respond to the Supreme Court decision, which is expected in June, with a replacement package.”
He said the plan likely will include proposals that Republicans have long supported, such as:
- Giving tax breaks for health insurance to workers instead of employers;
- Limiting medical malpractice suits;
- Allowing insurers to sell plans across state lines (Politico, 1/25); and
- Creating state-based high-risk pools funded by the government instead of requiring private insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions (“Healthwatch,” The Hill, 1/25).
