Good speech. Liked the overall tone. Pleased to report that the Vice President's hair is holding up nicely (which is more than I can say for my own).
Not surprisingly (in advance of the budget) light on details. No surprises.
Per healthcare reform, two words that may serve as tea leaves -- "down payment" and "affordable."
"Down Payment" = incremental.
"Affordable" = insurance reform.
Relative to "affordable," here's are a few paragraphs from the recent Robert Pear story in the New York Times:
Since last fall, many of the leading figures in the nation’s long-running health care debate have been meeting secretly in a Senate hearing room. Now, with the blessing of the Senate’s leading proponent of universal health insurance, Edward M. Kennedy, they appear to be inching toward a consensus that could reshape the debate.
Many of the parties, from big insurance companies to lobbyists for consumers, doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, are embracing the idea that comprehensive health care legislation should include a requirement that every American carry insurance.
While not all industry groups are in complete agreement, there is enough of a consensus, according to people who have attended the meetings, that they have begun to tackle the next steps: how to enforce the requirement for everyone to have health insurance; how to make insurance affordable to the uninsured; and whether to require employers to help buy coverage for their employees.
The ideas discussed include a proposal to penalize people who fail to comply with the “individual obligation” to have insurance.
“There seems to be a sense of the room that some form of tax penalty is an effective means to enforce such an obligation, though only on those for whom affordable coverage is available,” said the memorandum, prepared by David C. Bowen, a neurobiologist who is director of the health staff at the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
The full New York Times story can be found here.
Another question worth pondering is wither Medicare Advantage?
Not surprisingly (in advance of the budget) light on details. No surprises.
Per healthcare reform, two words that may serve as tea leaves -- "down payment" and "affordable."
"Down Payment" = incremental.
"Affordable" = insurance reform.
Relative to "affordable," here's are a few paragraphs from the recent Robert Pear story in the New York Times:
Since last fall, many of the leading figures in the nation’s long-running health care debate have been meeting secretly in a Senate hearing room. Now, with the blessing of the Senate’s leading proponent of universal health insurance, Edward M. Kennedy, they appear to be inching toward a consensus that could reshape the debate.
Many of the parties, from big insurance companies to lobbyists for consumers, doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, are embracing the idea that comprehensive health care legislation should include a requirement that every American carry insurance.
While not all industry groups are in complete agreement, there is enough of a consensus, according to people who have attended the meetings, that they have begun to tackle the next steps: how to enforce the requirement for everyone to have health insurance; how to make insurance affordable to the uninsured; and whether to require employers to help buy coverage for their employees.
The ideas discussed include a proposal to penalize people who fail to comply with the “individual obligation” to have insurance.
“There seems to be a sense of the room that some form of tax penalty is an effective means to enforce such an obligation, though only on those for whom affordable coverage is available,” said the memorandum, prepared by David C. Bowen, a neurobiologist who is director of the health staff at the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
The full New York Times story can be found here.
Another question worth pondering is wither Medicare Advantage?
