Clinton, Obama differ slightly on health plans

Sens. Obama and Clinton both say they make reducing the number of people without health insurance - 47 million - a cornerstone of their health plans. Their approaches are so similar that some health experts say this is not the issue that will help most voters decide between the two Democrats. The real fireworks will come in the fall when one of them faces Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, whose proposal is starkly different and represents a greater departure from the status quo. . . . Both Clinton and Obama say they want to build on the current mix of public and private health insurance to make coverage universal and affordable. Both say they would offer tax subsidies to help people buy insurance, require most employers to help pay for insurance, and limit insurance company profits. Individuals and small businesses could join big groups to buy private insurance or a Medicare-like public plan.
The big difference between the two is that Clinton would require everyone to have health insurance and Obama would mandate it only for children.

In Massachusetts, Universal Coverage Strains Care

In pockets of the United States, rural and urban, a confluence of market and medical forces has been widening the gap between the supply of primary care physicians and the demand for their services. Modest pay, medical school debt, an aging population and the prevalence of chronic disease have each played a role. Now in Massachusetts, in an unintended consequence of universal coverage, the imbalance is being exacerbated by the state’s new law requiring residents to have health insurance. Since last year, when the landmark law took effect, about 340,000 of Massachusetts’ estimated 600,000 uninsured have gained coverage. Many are now searching for doctors and scheduling appointments for long-deferred care.

Researchers Find Huge Variations in End-of-Life Treatment

New research shows huge, unexplained variations in the amount, intensity and cost of care provided to Medicare patients with chronic illnesses at the nation’s top academic medical centers, raising the possibility that the government could save large amounts of money.

In a report being issued on Monday, Dartmouth researchers say that total Medicare spending in the last two years of life ranges from an average of $93,842 for patients who receive most of their care at U.C.L.A. Medical Center to $53,432 at the Mayo Clinic’s main teaching hospital in Rochester, Minnesota.

Clinton unveils universal health care plan

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton called for universal health care on Monday, plunging back into the bruising political battle she famously waged and lost in her husband's administration on an issue that looms large in the 2008 presidential race. "This is not government-run," the party's front-runner said of her plan to extend coverage to an estimated 47 million Americans who now go without. Her declaration was a clear message to Republicans, the insurance industry, businesses and millions of voters who nervously recall what sank her effort at health care reform 13 years ago — fear of a big-government takeover.

Middle-Class Americans Join Ranks of Uninsured in 2006 as Private Coverage Shrinks

The U.S. Census Bureau released data today showing that the number of uninsured Americans jumped by 2.2 million in 2006 to 47.0 million people, with nearly all the increase (2.03 million) concentrated among middle-class Americans earning over $50,000 per year, according to an analysis by Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). Strikingly, 1.4 million of the newly uninsured were in families making over $75,000 per year. An additional 600,000 were in families earning $50,000 to $75,000 per year. (The median household income in 2006 was $48,200).
"Middle income Americans are now experiencing the human suffering that comes with being uninsured. It makes any illness a potential economic and social catastrophe," said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

A Compelling Argument for Universal Health Insurance

For Want of a Dentist
Boy Dies After Bacteria From Tooth Spread to Brain
By Mary OttoWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, February 28, 2007; Page B01
Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.
A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.
If his mother had been insured.
If his family had not lost its Medicaid.
If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.