Today’s Selection Of Opinions And Editorials
Transparency And Sausage Making Kaiser Health NewsCould Obama be doing more to bring health care--and its policy work--out into the open? Without a question. But he could also be doing a lot less. That's worth something (Jonathan Cohn, 1/11).
Health Reform, The States And Medicaid The New York Times
The country needs health care reform, and Congress should move quickly to pass legislation. But as House and Senate leaders work to forge a consensus bill for final approval, they should look for ways to lessen the Medicaid burden on hard-pressed state budgets - and ensure that relief is fairly apportioned (1/9).
The Health Choices Czar The Wall Street Journal (1/11)
The House version of ObamaCare is more destructive than the Senate version, though that's like comparing Krakatoa and Mount Vesuvius. At any rate, one of the main Democrat-on-Democrat bouts in their secret nonconference committee turns on who will regulate the insurance industry to within an inch of its commercial life.
Health-Cost Flop The Press-Enterprise
Congress needs to take the right lesson from the latest federal report on health care finances: Even in a painful economic downturn, health care costs continued to grow at an unsustainable rate. And health care reforms need to slow that steady inflation to avert fiscal catastrophe. The current reform plans in Congress fall far short on that score, however. They offer provisions that claim to save money, but do little to shrink the steady long-term growth in health costs (1/10).
Democrats Are Ready To Compromise To Get Health Reform Done The Washington Post
[M]ore than negotiators can afford to acknowledge openly, there is broad agreement on the kinds of concessions the Senate can make to the House and still preserve the 60 votes needed for passage. Indeed, some of those concessions will be eagerly sought by progressive Democratic senators (E.J. Dionne Jr., 1/11).
Obama Health Plan's Success Rides On Cost Curbs BusinessWeek
[C]ritical decisions will affect the sine qua non of this initiative: curbing costs of the most expensive health-care system (Albert R. Hunt, 1/11).
Learning From Europe The New York Times
Europe is often held up as a cautionary tale, a demonstration that if you try to make the economy less brutal, to take better care of your fellow citizens when they're down on their luck, you end up killing economic progress. But what European experience actually demonstrates is the opposite: social justice and progress can go hand in hand (Paul Krugman, 1/10). This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.