All year, Congress has been trying to figure out what to do about the 21% cut in Medicare payments to doctors that's set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2010, the Wall Street Journal Health Blog reports. A legislative maneuver would block the cut, but only for two months. The short-term patch is tucked inside a big defense spending bill the House passed, the Health Blog reports.
Among seven leading social networking sites ranked by college students in the Anderson Analytics 2009-2010 GenX2Z American College Student Survey, Facebook was viewed as "cool" by 82% of males and 90% of females. All other social networking sites were deemed "lame" by significant percentages of both male and female collegiate users. Facebook also overtook Google as the number one most popular website among both genders of the college students surveyed.
As health reform negotiations continued, President Obama urged Senate Democrats to overcome lingering disputes and push a healthcare overhaul through the chamber before Christmas. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-CT), once a critic of the legislation, appeared to be warming to the $848 billion package after Senate leaders said they were ready to jettison a plan to extend Medicare coverage to uninsured people as young as 55. He said that he expects to support the bill if that provision is dropped, the Washington Post reports.
Four days before the Senate jettisoned the idea of expanding Medicare to younger Americans, a dozen Senate Democrats sent a letter warning that the proposal would make it harder for elderly patients in parts of the country to find care. The letter, sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV), attests to the effectiveness of a campaign by influential hospital and physician lobbyists to defeat the idea, the Washington Post reports. It also underscores the difficulty of forging policy and political deals in the environment in which Congress is trying to reshape the nation's healthcare system, reports the Post.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds the public generally fearful that a revamped healthcare system would bring higher costs while worsening the quality of their care. A bare majority of Americans still believe government action is needed to control runaway healthcare costs and expand coverage to the roughly 46 million people without insurance. But after a year of national debate, there is minimal public enthusiasm for the kind of comprehensive changes in healthcare now under consideration, the poll found.
President Barack Obama pressed Senate Democrats to close ranks quickly behind a deal that has disappointed some liberals, saying lawmakers are "on the precipice of an achievement that has eluded Congresses and presidents for generations." Standing with senior Democrats in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Obama said there is "broad consensus" on the core of the bill. Some differences remain, but President Obama suggested it was time to compromise, the Wall Street Journal reports.