Democratic leaders pushing health care reform this year like to argue that a vast majority of the proposals represent uncontroversial changes backed by most Capitol Hill lawmakers. And while that might be true, it hasn’t prevented some sharp disagreements between House and Senate Democrats over a handful of high-profile reform provisions.
WASHINGTON– To hear Republicans in Congress tell it, the Grand Old Party is pretty much united against the deficit-spending approach to economic recovery. Don’t tell that to local GOP officials.
Faced with the most severe budget crises in decades, state and local policymakers from across the country — including a growing list of prominent Republicans — have been only too happy to accept the additional federal funding that accompanied last year’s $787 billion stimulus bill. Not only did that money prop up job markets, many say, but it kept social-service programs running strong during a period of greatest need. They don’t see stimulus spending as indebting the future. They see it as an investment in the future.
Here’s a profound idea from California GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who went after congressional Republicans yesterday for criticizing the Democrats’ stimulus bill one moment, then taking credit for the money the legislation is providing their districts the next.
A new bill that would mandate Colorado insurance companies to cover birth control and maternity care is aimed at addressing the conditions that place Colorado among the worst states in the nation when it comes to providing for reproductive health.
A bill proposed for the next legislative session would improve a state loan-repayment program for rural health professionals with the aim of attracting more providers to rural areas. The Colorado Rural Health Center (CRHC), the Colorado Community Health Network (CCHN) and the Governor’s office are jointly proposing the bill, according to Terri Hurst, policy analyst at CRHC. She expected it to be sponsored by Representative Sara Gagliardi, D-Arvada, and Senator John Morse D-Colorado Springs.
Democratic leaders face a major decision now on health care reform– yet another one this year that will throw into relief the interests that compete in American representative democracy. They have to choose between either closing the “doughnut hole” and offering full coverage for millions of low-income seniors on Medicare who need to buy prescription drugs or sticking to a deal they made with the nation’s major drug companies. According to the deal, the government agrees not to use its bulk buying power to lower the cost of drugs, so long as the drug companies dole out $80 billion over the next decade to subsidize health reform.
At last week’s Colorado Voices for Coverage conference, state lawmakers outlined their own solutions to fix the health care system, including Sen. Linda Newell, D-Littleton, who explained for the crowd how she and her two daughters joined the growing ranks of the uninsured Americans for eight months and wracked up $14,000 in medical bills.
It’s a nonsensical element of Medicaid’s funding formula that during economic downturns, when state budgets are most squeezed, states are also asked to bear much higher health costs as the Medicaid rolls swell. The result, inevitably, is the…
The Washington Independent wrote recently about the oddity of congressional Republicans blasting the thought of creating a public plan while at the same time lauding the virtues and successes of Medicare, which just happens to be…
The Denver Post reprinted an AP article on Sunday that proclaimed: “Democrats say Grand Junction is a model for learning how to lower health care costs and improve care.” But it’s not just Democrats.
According the Christian…
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