Jackie Judd, Kaiser Family Foundation, Mary Agnes Carey, Kaiser Health News and Edward Epstein, Congressional Quarterly
Over the weekend, White House officials urged the House of Representatives to vote on the Senate-passed health overhaul bill. Meanwhile, Rep. Nancy Pelosi is still working to assuage concerns from both sides of the ideological base on the issue of abortion. A vote is expected sometime this week.
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Topics: Health Reform, Politics
As part of his campaign to push Congress to pass a health reform bill, President Barack Obama spoke before a crowd in a St. Charles, Missouri high school auditorium on March 10, 2010. Here are some excerpts of the speech, in which the president called for an end to the politicization of the issue.
Topics: Health Reform
Jackie Judd, Kaiser Family Foundation, Mary Agnes Carey, Kaiser Health News and Julie Rovner, NPR
President Obama will visit Philadelphia and St. Louis this week to continue his push to have Congress pass health overhaul legislation this month. Abortion remains a major disagreement between the House and Senate, and the chambers' measures also vary in other areas, such as cost control and financing.
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This video highlights President Obama's new proposal for health reform, which includes changes to what he calls the "worst practices" of insurance companies and efforts to control rising health care costs. During his remarks, he urged Congress to pass the bill quickly.
Related: Obama Presses Forward In Health Overhaul Efforts
Jackie Judd, Kaiser Family Foundation and Mary Agnes Carey, Kaiser Health News
House and Senate Democratic leaders continue to determine support in their chambers for moving health care legislation by using the budget reconciliation process, which would allow the measure to be approved in the Senate by 51 votes rather than a filibuster-proof 60 vote margin. President Obama is expected to announce some changes to the health care plan he unveiled last week that is hoped to bring more support for the package.
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A health care summit between President Obama, Republicans and Democrats ended with the president laying out some areas of consensus between the two parties but many disagreements remain. Throughout the more than six hour session, lawmakers laid out their competing priorities for the measure. While Republicans said the Democrats' proposal was too broad in its scope and the American public had rejected it, Democrats said the public wanted action now on a comprehensive health insurance proposal and they intended to pass their bill.
Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., and President Obama discuss elements of health care reform during the White House Health Care Summit.
Related Content: Video: Excerpts of Opening Remarks | Opening Remarks Spell Out Partisan Divide At Summit
Highlights from President Obama's opening remarks at the White House Health Care Summit.
Related Content: Opening Remarks Spell Out Partisan Divide At Summit
Jackie Judd, Kaiser Family Foundation; Mary Agnes Carey, Kaiser Health News; and Julie Rovner, NPR News
Just days before a bipartisan White House summit on health care, President Obama unveiled a proposal that closely tracks the Senate-passed health legislation with some modifications. For example, the size of a high-cost "Cadillac" health insurance plan subject to an excise tax would be raised and the tax would not be levied on any health insurance plan until 2018. Subsidies would be increased for some low-and-middle-income individuals to help them purchase coverage, and states would receive more financial assistance from the federal government to help pay for a Medicaid expansion.
Jackie Judd, Kaiser Family Foundation; Mary Agnes Carey, Kaiser Health News; and Eric Pianin, The Fiscal Times
President Obama has scheduled a bipartisan summit for Feb. 25 to discuss ways to pass health care overhaul legislation this year. On Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders in both chambers are trying to resolve differences between House and Senate-passed health care bills and make progress on the issue once lawmakers return from the President's Day recess.
President Obama's budget request for fiscal 2011 would give states an additional $25 billion in Medicaid funding to help cover rising program costs. Meanwhile, House and Senate Democratic leaders continue negotiations on how to pass health care overhaul legislation this year, although lawmakers' focus has shifted in part to finding ways to improve the economy and increase jobs.
President Barack Obama gave his first State of the Union address on Wednesday, reiterating the country's need for health care reform and stating Congress "should not walk away" from the issue.
Obama On Health Care: What A Difference A Year Makes (1/27, KHN)
Obama Appeals For Health Reform Despite Recent Setbacks (1/28, Daily Report)
Jackie Judd, Kaiser Family Foundation; Mary Agnes Carey, Kaiser Health News; Julie Rovner, NPR
Congressional Democrats continue to debate their next step on health care overhaul legislation, with some urging that Congress move quickly on a scaled-back approach. President Obama and administration officials have stressed that they do not want Congress to abandon the issue and the president is expected to discuss health care during his State of the Union address.
Jackie Judd, Kaiser Family Foudation; Mary Agnes Carey, Kaiser Health News; Drew Armstrong, Congressional Quarterly
The outcome of the Massachusetts Senate race could play a pivotal role in efforts by President Obama and congressional Democrats to pass a health care overhaul bill this year. Talks between the White House and congressional Democrats are expected to intensify this week as lawmakers push to get a health care deal through both chambers.
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Topics: Insurance, Health Costs
A Virginia family got permission for out-of-network care for their son's heart defect but still ended up drowning in debt.
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Jackie Judd, Kaiser Family Foundation; Mary Agnes Carey, Kaiser Health News; and Drew Armstrong, Congressional Quarterly.
With House members returning to town, negotiations continue between House and Senate Democrats over differences in the two chambers' health care bills. Key differences include financing, the level of subsidies provided to help people afford coverage and whether or not to include a tax on high-cost health insurance plans.
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House and Senate lawmakers are beginning to resolve differences between the two chambers' health care overhaul plans. Those differences include the size of the bills, language governing abortion funding and how the bills would be financed. While the House bill includes a government-run health insurance option the Senate bill does not. Negotiations are expected to continue throughout January.
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The Senate continues to debate health care reform with passage of the Democrats' health care bill expected by Christmas Eve. Key differences between the two bills -- in the areas of abortion, financing and a government-run "public plan" health insurance option -- would need to be resolved in a House-Senate conference deal, and approved by both chambers before reaching President Obama's desk.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues to push his party to approve health care overhaul legislation before Christmas, but concerns over many issues, including abortion funding and a possible early buy-in for the Medicare program, could cause that timetable to slip. Senate floor action may quicken once Reid receives an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office of a series of provisions -- including the Medicare buy-in proposal -- he is assembling in hopes of winning 60 votes for his health care plan.
Jackie Judd, Kaiser Family Foundation; Jordan Rau, Kaiser Health News Jackie Judd and Jordan Rau discuss the accuracies and inaccuracies of recent television ads on health care reform legislation. So far, over $165 million has been spent by groups trying to influence the debate.
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