Today's Selection Of Editorials And Opinions

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 15 Jul 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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The Small Business Surtax The Wall Street Journal
Jason Furman owes an apology to Michael Boskin, the Stanford economist who wrote a year ago on these pages that Barack Obama would raise American income tax rates nearly to 60%. Mr. Furman, then in the Obama campaign and now at the White House, claimed this was wrong and that Democrats would merely raise taxes back to their Clinton-era level (7/14).

'Socialized' Medicine? Bring it On The Washington Post
Many, if not most, Americans have some experience with our nation's mostly private health-care system. Yet they still fall prey to the scare tactic that nothing -- but nothing -- could be worse than a government takeover of the system (Cohen, 7/14).

Health Care Reform Needs To Be Done Right The St. Petersburg Times
Something this consequential must be done right. It must provide universal coverage without undermining employer-sponsored health insurance, it must contain health costs and it must not add to the deficit (7/14).

When I'm Really Old, Put Me On That Ice Floe The Los Angeles Times
We ration healthcare based on the ability to pay. The roughly 47 million uninsured Americans, and the millions more who are underinsured, mostly do not get to consider whether it is worth the effort to undergo costly, life-prolonging or life-enhancing procedures. It is simply not part of their personal equation (Rosofsky, 7/14).

AMA Doesn't Speak For All Physicians The Detroit News
The AMA does not speak for all physicians. In the battle for the soul of American medicine, the AMA is often on the wrong side. At least, it's not clearly on the right side of key contested issues in this year's health care reform debate (Rajkumar and Pollack, 7/14).

Reform Health Care Without Government Takeover The Detroit News
House Republicans have a plan that will reduce costs, expand access and increase the quality of care in a way we can afford. Democrats, on the other hand, have responded with the same old formula of more taxes, mandates and spending (Boehner and Camp, 7/14).

Government Should Stay Out Of Health Care The Kansas City Kansan
Unfortunately, the "health care reform" proposal going through the Health Committee now won't even come close to achieving that goal. In fact, it will expand government programs at the expense of the already overburdened taxpayer, and it may restrict the benefits you currently have, or deny you access to the doctor or treatment of your choice (Roberts, 7/13).

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.

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