You don’t have to love classical music to be amazed that Beethoven wrote his Ninth Symphony while deaf or be a fan of the old New York Giants to marvel at Willie Mays’ catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series.
Health Care
And Now, How to Improve Obamacare
Obama could help himself if he leveled with voters about the law’s weaknesses
Trying to Read Anthony Kennedy’s Mind: Health Care and the Supreme Court Revisited
As Massimo Calabresi and David Von Drehle write in their cover story this week, Justice Anthony Kennedy is often the decider when it comes to Supreme Court cases of great import. He toggles between the conservative and liberal sides of the bench and predicting where he will land on a particular matter is impossible. This is true with one …
Accountable Health Care
Sally Pipes cites a recent poll that has 60% of doctors opposed to Obamacare. The reason? She thinks the doctors are opposed to Obama’s attempt to nudge them toward Accountable Care Organizations, where doctors are encouraged to use “best practices” that have been established by electronic data over time instead of fee-for-service …
Obama’s Health Care Box
Alec MacGillis of the NewRepublic has been doing some fine campaign reporting this year and here he offers a smart look at what may be the most important state of all in November–Ohio. The most striking part of the piece for me, one that illuminates an essential conundrum for Barack Obama, occurs when MacGillis goes door to door with a …
If the Court Repeals Obamacare, Republicans Don’t Need to Worry Too Much About Replacing It
A rash of news stories have been published this week examining how the GOP will handle things if the Supreme Court votes next month to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Amazingly, they all leave out the single most important and …
Health Care After the Court: If the Individual Mandate Falls, What Next?
If the Supreme Court strikes down the individual health insurance mandate, but leaves most or all of the rest of the Affordable Care Act intact, Congress will have some work to do. Without some way to push uninsured healthy …
On Day 1 of Health Reform Arguments, Justices Sound Skeptical that Challenge Is Premature
If the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s sweeping new health care law, seems complicated, the Supreme Court case parsing its constitutionality is far more so. This week, over three days, justices on the High Court are …
Ryan’s Medicare Plan
It’s going to take a while to sift through the entrails of Paul Ryan’s latest budget, but it seems obvious that his Medicare proposal, jointly made with Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, is going to get most of the attention. I’m a big fan of Wyden’s when it comes to health care policy. He’s proven to be the most creative legislator on this …
Why Endangered Democrats Are Thanking Paul Ryan
Clearly, health care reform was a losing political issue for lots of congressional Democrats, especially those who were up for reelection in 2010. The issue helped mobilize Republican voters who managed to unseat enough Democrats to shift the balance of power on Capitol Hill. Democrats lost their Senate super majority and Republicans now …
Mired in the Sticky Politics of Health and Faith, Obama Shifts on Contraception
In the face of mounting pressure from Catholic leaders and politicians, the White House on Friday tweaked its position on contraception coverage mandates in the Affordable Care Act. Rather than require large religious …
Medical Malpractice Memo Depicts Obama’s Precarious Balancing Act on Health Reform
It’s no secret that passing health care reform was a balancing act from beginning to end. For President Obama, keeping the legislation alive meant making sure congressional Democrats stayed happy, along with for-profit …
Where the Ryan-Wyden Medicare Plan Leaves the Entitlement Debate
The Medicare reform plan released Thursday by GOP budget prophet Paul Ryan and wonky Democratic Senator Ron Wyden is a rare hybrid strain. Politically, it’s the result of a collaboration between two men with very different ideological inclinations. On the policy, it maps out a kind of DMZ for the entitlement debate: an expansion of …
