Will Obama Budget Push Health Reform? (William Chirolas)

  Perhaps we'll hear something in the Budget speech? 

  Feb. 22, 2009 -- Rumors on the status of the Senator Kennedy Task Force results to date are encouraging.

  President Obama campaigned on a promise to expand government health programs and give people subsidies to help them afford coverage. He also proposed creating a public plan to compete with private health insurers.

  Senator Kennedy's task force has found that many insurance executives say they are willing to accept stricter regulation, including a requirement to offer coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions, if the federal government requires everyone to have coverage.

  Two ways are being discussed for making insurance available to all -- by offering subsidies for private insurance, based on a person’s income, and by expanding public programs (the group agrees “eligibility levels for Medicaid should be increased,” so that more people would qualify, so the public policy option promised by Obama could be the right to buy into a Medicaid policy.

  Lobbyists said that if the government subsidized insurance premiums, it would probably need to set minimum standards for benefits as well, but with the actual benefits and standards of care set by a board of experts rather than Congress, with experts defining the minimum coverage “within statutory parameters” set by Congress, and with insurers allowed to offer different benefits with the same overall value.  Insurers are willing to accept that federal standards “may supersede state benefit mandates.”

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  http://www.bellinghamherald.com/latestheadlines/story/803272.html

  Obama has big challenge in overhauling health care

  By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Now for the hard part.

  Even if the national credit card is maxed out and partisanship remains the rule for Washington's political tribes, President Barack Obama and Congress are plunging ahead with a health care overhaul.

  This week, Obama will start the dialogue on how to increase coverage, restrain costs and improve quality.

  Whether a bill can get through Congress and to Obama this year is uncertain. For half a century, the track record on health care has been one of missed opportunities, spectacular failures and hard-won incremental gains.

  Read The Entire Story

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  William Chirolas brings 40 years of real-world business experience in local, state, national, and international tax, pensions, and finance to the world of blogging. A graduate of MIT, he calls the Boston area home, except when visiting kids and grandkids.