health reform

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), a leader in the battle to defeat health reform, sounded an odd note against the legislation yesterday, likening the move to expand health care to the the war to free the slaves, another “Yankee aggression,” he suggested. Progressive websites are highlighting the speech as a “reactionary” over-the-top “diatribe” that signals [...]

In the wake of a Congressional Budget Office report finding that current health reform legislation would cut the deficit by $138 billion in ten years, Colorado Fourth District U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey confirmed that she planned to vote to pass the legislation this weekend. State Rep. Cory Gardner, the GOP frontrunner seeking to unseat Markey in November, wasted no time blasting her for the decision.

Moderate Democratic U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey is being targeted by a pro-health reform campaign that will run in the districts of 17 members of Congress for the rest of the week in advance of a vote in Washington. The campaign is the work of Colorado Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and Service Employees International [...]

It has been a week since Florida Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, aghast with the shenanigans on Capitol Hill, took matters into his own hands. He introduced a four-page health reform bill (Four! Pages!) that expands Meidcare, i.e., the public option that already exists in this country. His simple bill is called “the Public Option [...]

DENVER– Lawmakers Monday passed a bill in the Colorado House that would require health insurance companies to include prenatal and birth control in all plans offered to women on the individual health care market. Sponsored by Denver Democrats Beth McCann and Jerry Frangas, the bill was stripped of this strong provision in committee weeks ago in order to move it onto the floor. House watchers expected to see a fight on the floor but the bill passed on a voice vote, with only minimal questioning from conservative Monument Republican Amy Stephens, who asked if the bill would now cover so-called Plan B contraception, the “morning after” pill, which some see as akin to abortion.

Colorado Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Udall said he shared in the willingness Pres. Obama expressed in his State of the Union address tonight to reach across the aisle and work with Republicans to lift health care reform legislation over the last hurdles and make sure it passes into law. Udall told the Colorado Independent that he saw positive signs in the House chamber during the speech that suggested there is willingness on the part of Democrats and Republicans to work together.

Colorado U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, made the unsurprising announcement today that he had joined 26 other lawmakers sponsored by the conservative Club for Growth in pledging to work to stop federal health reform legislation from taking effect.

Today brings two big political press events: Former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff is meeting the press at his campaign headquarters sometime just after noon. The answer to the question raised by that sentence is: Yes, Andrew Romanoff is still technically running for the U.S. Senate. At noon, Jon Caldara, head of the conservative / libertarian [...]

In a front-page story that positions Colorado as representative, the New York Times today reports that voters here “crave reform of health care and Congress.” Of course we do. The health-reform debate was ugly and preposterous and shot through with distortions and lies. Corporate interests steered the discussion and shaped the legislation. Sharp Colorado voters– [...]

You’re a good worker but your heart rate and blood sugar are high. Sorry, according to the provisions of the Senate health care bill, your employer could charge you thousands of dollars per year for those preexisting conditions, at least according to a long list of analysts looking at the bill.