Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a key Republican negotiator in bipartisan healthcare reform, said that the outpouring of anger at town hall meetings has fundamentally altered the nature of the debate and convinced him that lawmakers should consider drastically scaling back the scope of the effort. After being besieged by protesters at meetings across his home state of Iowa, Grassley said he has concluded that the public has rejected the far-reaching proposals Democrats have put on the table, viewing them as overly expensive precursors to "a government takeover of healthcare."
The Hospital Corporation of America announced a proposal to build a hospital on Route 50 in Loudoun County, VA, apparently signaling the end of a long struggle with rival Inova Health System over its future in the growing area. StoneSpring Medical Center, which would be Loudoun's second hospital, would have 164 beds, including 124 acute-care beds, cost $195 million and open in December 2015. As recently as last month, HCA officials said they had "no plans" to build a hospital in the area.
As President Obama sought to reframe the healthcare debate as "a core ethical and moral obligation," he implored a coalition of religious leaders to help promote the plan to lower costs and expand insurance coverage for all Americans. "I know there's been a lot of misinformation in this debate, and there are some folks out there who are frankly bearing false witness," Obama told a multidenominational group of pastors, rabbis, and other religious leaders who support his goal to remake the nation's healthcare system.
Two powerful House Democrats have sent a letter to insurance companies asking them to provide detailed information about their conferences and retreats, executive pay, and other business practices. The letter is from Rep. Henry Waxman (D., CA), who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D., MI), who heads the panel's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. The letter did not refer to the health overhaul debate, saying only that the committee "is examining executive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry."
The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their healthcare overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes. The idea is to escape the morass caused by delays in Congress, as well as voter discontent shown in angry town-hall meetings. Polls suggest the overhaul plans are losing public support, giving Republicans less incentive to go along.
While many companies are starting to track social-networking tools like Twitter and Facebook, there has always been challenges in the healthcare business because of privacy concerns. But health insurers are beginning to dip their toes in the water, according to the Wall Street Journal Health Blog.