Health-Care Reform Around the Web

By John Amick
• Headlines recapping President Obama's meeting with Democratic senators yesterday to discuss a health-care reform push this summer outlined both Obama's possible switch in positions on taxing employer-based health benefits, and the ongoing reticence from the Democrats on the scale of a government-sponsored health insurance plan. While Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Obama hasn't completely ruled out taxing benefits, the White House insists that the president has not budged on proposals he has previously endorsed, such as capping itemized deductions.

One major player not in attendance was Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The Health and Finance committees are working out differences in their respective health reform bills in hopes of eventually merging the two. Baucus told the Boston Globe, "We agree that our bills should be fairly, if not very, closely aligned, and we're going to reach agreement and have one bill before we go forward."

• Speaking of Baucus, national health insurance advocates in his home state of Montana are holding rallies in support of a single-payer system this Friday. Baucus has publicly stated he will not co-sponsor Vermont senator Bernie Sanders' single-payer bill.

• Former senator and nominee for secretary of health and human services Tom Daschle said yesterday there is "no better than a 50-50" chance new health-care legislation will pass in Congress this year. He cited his experiences in 1994, when a reform effort failed, as an example of bloated expectations.

• CQ continues its series on health care, asking if an overhaul of the system will ultimately aid the struggling economy. While offering every American care while slashing overall costs is the ideal objective, Congress doesn't seem prepared to radically change the existing structure.

• McClatchy lays out common questions that may be on consumers' minds as Congress mulls new legislation.