health insurance news

Healthcare Overhaul Closer Than Ever and Yet Far off

Eight months in office, Barack Obama has now pushed closer than any other president in generations to creating a basic health care safety net for working Americans. Yet the fate of legislation delivering on his goal is far from certain: Republicans are nearly unified in opposition, Democrats hardly united in support.

Indeed, few if any of the major arguments about the scope and costs of the historic undertaking are settled as congressional leaders prepare to take legislation to the floor in the next two weeks.

What's Behind Rising Health Costs? Lots

Lots of us think we know why American health-care costs are rising faster than a speeding bullet, or at least faster than our GDP, incomes, and inflation. It's because we're such profligate users of medical care. We run to the doctor at the first sign of a sniffle and demand heroic treatment until our final days.

Will 2009 be a Year for Health Care Reform?

As many Americans had hoped, President Obama is in office and the wheels appear to be in motion. The health care situation in the United States is just as grim as the rest of our economy, so it’s encouraging

Obama Says Health Care Changes Must Come This Year

President Barack Obama warned Thursday that if Congress doesn't deliver health care legislation by the end of the year, the opportunity will be lost, a plea to political supporters to pressure lawmakers to act. "If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done," Obama told supporters by phone as he flew home on Air Force One from a West Coast fundraising trip.

Obama Administration is Open to Taxing Health Benefits

The Obama administration is signaling to Congress that the president could support taxing some employee health benefits, as several influential lawmakers and many economists favor, to help pay for overhauling the health care system.

The proposal is politically problematic for President Obama, however, since it is similar to one he denounced in the presidential campaign as “the largest middle-class tax increase in history.” Most Americans with insurance get it from their employers, and taxing workers for the benefit is opposed by union leaders and some businesses.

Poll: Health Care Costs Too Expensive, Americans Say

Most Americans like their health care coverage but are not happy with the overall cost of health care, a national poll shows.

President Obama has said that lowering health care costs will benefit the economy.

More than eight in 10 Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday said they're satisfied with the quality of health care they receive.

And nearly three out of four said they're happy with their overall health care coverage.

McCain Health Plan And Tax Credit

John McCain's fix for health-care reform is based the logical Republican remedy: competition in the marketplace.

"John McCain is putting the American family in charge," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's chief policy adviser, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and a member of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

McCain Obama Health Care Debate

A major beef between John McCain and Barack Obama is their differing health care plans. Both sides say that the other candidates plan leads employers to drop coverage for their employees. Employer sponsored health insurance covers over 170 million American workers.

McCain argues that since Obama would give people the chance to sign up for insurance through a government-run exchange, employers would channel their workers into the exchange. That would mean more Americans subject to government regulations.