Morning News
From Politico:
A new analysis by a leading MIT economist provides new ammunition for Democrats as the Senate begins formally debating the historic health-reform bill being pushed by President Barack Obama.
The report concludes that under the Senate’s health-reform bill, Americans buying individual coverage will pay less than they do for today's typical individual market coverage, and would be protected from high out-of-pocket costs…
The “microsimulation” analysis is by Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Treasury Department official under President Bill Clinton. Gruber used data from the Congressional Budget Office.
Gruber concludes that people purchasing individual insurance would save an annual $200 (singles) to $500 (families) in 2009 dollars. And people with low incomes would receive premium tax credits that would reduce the price that they pay for health insurance by as much as $2,500 to $7,500…
From the New York Times:
President Obama plans to lay out a time Buy cheap Accutane Online frame for winding down the American involvement in the war in Afghanistan when he announces his decision this week to send more forces, senior administration officials said Sunday.
Although the speech was still in draft form, the officials said the president wanted to use the address at the United States Military Academy at West Point on Tuesday night not only to announce the immediate order to deploy roughly 30,000 more troops, but also to convey how he intends to turn the fight over to the Kabul government.
“It’s accurate to say that he will be more explicit about both goals and time frame than has been the case before and than has been part of the public discussion,” said a senior official, who requested anonymity to discuss the speech before it is delivered. “He wants to give a clear sense of both the time frame for action and how the war will eventually wind down…”
From Bloomberg:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid begins this week pushing for Democratic unity on health-care legislation, which may mean catering to the whims of 60 lawmakers who know that each of their votes is essential…
Without any support from Republicans, Reid has to keep his entire caucus in line on issues big and small on a 2,074-page bill that contains the biggest changes to U.S. health care in more than four decades and is President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority…
Both the House and Senate bills would require that Americans get health insurance or pay a penalty, offering subsidies to help lower-income people and setting up online exchanges for comparison shopping. The bills would also require insurers to accept new customers, regardless of preexisting conditions, and encourage greater use of preventive care…
From the Pine Bluff Commercial:
Twin sisters Glinda Courtney Foots and Linda Courtney Weathers have put their writing and singing skills to work to encourage change. They’ve created and recorded a song entitled “Health Care Reform.”
“It sheds light on the urgency for health care insurance for all Americans,” Weathers said, adding that it pleads to lawmakers to pass legislation immediately. “This song is dedicated to the late Ted Kennedy.”
Foots and Weathers hope their song has had a positive impact on the issue of health care reform.
“We wanted to put a positive spin on the cause of health care reform,” Foots said. “We want the American people to realize the importance of it….”
Weathers was asked by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, to share her husband’s story with Congressman Glen Nye (D-Va). The organization was delivering 3,000 health care declarations to support the president’s reform efforts. Weathers visited the congressman’s office along with several other supporters of health care reform and shared copies of the song she and her sister had written.
Foots and Weathers co-wrote and recorded the song a month after Thomas Weathers left the hospital.
“It’s our way of getting a message out through song,” Foots said. “We want the message to be loud and clear…"