Senators headed home for their August break amid an escalating partisan battle over healthcare reform, and a small band of lawmakers hope to keep their compromise alive until Congress reconvenes in September. But Senate Democratic leaders continue to stoke the controversy, accusing GOP leaders of an artificial grass-roots movement to undermine public confidence in reform efforts.
President Obama supports the creation of a public insurance plan that would compete with insurers on state or regional marketplaces in which the uninsured and small businesses could buy coverage with the help of income-based subsidies. Most Republicans in Congress are against a public option, saying it would drive insurers out of business. And some key centrist Democrats in Congress say Democrats must give up on it if they want to win a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate.
Governors from both parties fear the implications of the healthcare overhaul now being devised, saying Congress will give the states expensive new Medicaid obligations without providing enough new money to pay for them. The states' fears were stoked further when House lawmakers drafting health legislation reached a cost compromise with conservative Blue Dog Democrats that would force states to take on a greater Medicaid spending burden than an earlier version of the bill.
The parent companies of Hartford Hospital and the Hospital of Central Connecticut announced plans to enter into a business affiliation they say will strengthen clinical programs and improve financial efficiency. Under the plan, which requires approval by state and federal regulators, the hospitals would maintain their own medical staffs, bylaws, rules, boards and licenses.
France claims it long ago achieved much of a healthcare system that covers everyone, and provides what supporters say is high-quality care. But soaring costs are pushing the system into crisis. As a result, while Congress fights over whether America should be more like France the French government is trying to borrow U.S. tactics. In recent months, France imposed co-pays on patients to try to hold down prescription-drug costs and forced state hospitals to crack down on expenses.
Senior members of the Senate Finance Committee, trying to put together a bipartisan bill to guarantee health insurance for all Americans, were told that their proposals might be unaffordable to states and to many low-income people. The emerging legislation would expand Medicaid to cover millions of additional people. It would also offer premium subsidies, in the form of tax credits, to people with incomes just above the Medicaid cutoff so they could buy private insurance.