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UPDATE UPDATE: the House voted in favor of the SCHIP expansion 289 to 139.

ORIGINAL POST:

We're only two weeks into the new year, and legislative policy is already in full swing

Democrats in the House of representatives is scheduled to vote on a bill to expand Health Insurance Program for children of State (SCHIP) -. and with the heavy majority, will almost certainly approve.

Bill, similar to bills vetoed by outgoing President George W. Bush in 07, will expand coverage to about 4.1 million children, reported Washington post .

under Article Post, the bill will cost about $ 33 billion - paid mainly by an increase in the federal cigarette tax 61 percent

So here come the political ...

Susan Gates ,. a lawyer for the group defending the rights of children, the Children's Defense Fund, sought to criticize President-elect Barack Obama for his lack of universalism.

"This is certainly not the promise to cover all children that the elected president ran on," Gates said, noting the bill still leave some 5 million children discovered.

Republicans in the House put their two cents in as well.

A letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President-elect Obama, signed by 112 House GOP members, said their concerns about the SCHIP bill.

They are more concerned that the legislation will threaten private health insurance, Medicaid come with large budget deficits, and will allow immigrants to enter the program, wrote the post.

After almost guaranteed approval in the House, the bill could pass the US Senate for a vote, where it is also likely to pass.

it is difficult to see how this time SCHIP expansion is not all the way through.

all thought?

There had a big news week in the health care industry and health insurance, and we were behind, so let's go for speed.

former Senator Tom Daschle, who was the candidate of President Obama for secretary of health and human rights, withdrew its account name after being unable to overcome pressure 140.000 $ to arrears of unpaid taxes, reported The New York Times .

Daschle, whose output is considered by most as a blow to the campaign for the reform of health care, has also resigned as director of the Office of the White House health reform.

So, who is now in the running to take the place of Daschle? Names rumors include Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sibelius, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber.

Look for President Obama to try to fill the vacancy soon put this political victim behind him quickly as possible.

In other news from the medical industry, President Obama hopes the country talking about the new expansion of the State Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). He signed the bill passed by both houses of Congress on Wednesday reported USA Today .

The bill will extend coverage to about 4 million children, and cost the government around $ 32.8 billion in total, paid for by increasing taxes on federal cigarettes.

Republicans in the Senate were more unhappy with the provision of the bill that took away the five-year waiting period for legal immigrants to enroll in SCHIP.

Finally, President Obama has formally repealed the rules of former President Bush that limited state governments to expand their SCHIP programs. Find memo from President Obama to lift the rules here.

Health insurance and health care reform health is certainly the topic of the moment - President Barack Obama has broad reform goals in his sights and Medicare is a top target

for a while now, Democrats lawmakers sought to reduce the amount the government pays private health insurance companies that provide. replacement Medicare coverage, such as Medicare Advantage.

Medicare Advantage plans provide eligible Americans the opportunity to receive their health benefits through a private insurer rather than the government.

But recent research has found insurers get paid about 14 percent more than what the government spends on regular people Medicare Parts A and B, for example.

This is why it is a target for Democrats, who want to reduce payments to Medicare Advantage to save money and redirect to other health reform efforts.

According to Wall Street Journal , which is exactly what President Obama has in mind. The president wants to cut some $ 117 billion over the next decade these Medicare Advantage plans.

Obviously, the health industry is not so much to support such deep cuts. They argue it will lead to higher premiums, cut benefits or abandonment of certain geographic markets completely, writes the Journal.

But Democrats argue the higher payments are not needed and the money could be better used.

So, firstly, we have Medicare Advantage plans that offer several times more personalized coverage and lower cost option for older Americans. On the other hand, we inflated payments that could be reduced to provide more additional health reform funding.

Let the debate begin.

This morning in Chicago, President Obama spoke to the American Medical Association 158th annual meeting about, guess what, healthcare and reform of health insurance.

covered the president a lot of ground in his speech nearly an hour, touching its main views on reform, but endearing. each available with physician interaction

here are some of the most remarkable parts of his speech:

• Cut Medicare Advantage payments . This was a turning point for the bonding health insurance industry in reform. President Obama wants a more competitive market for Medicare Advantage and sees $ 177 billion in savings over 10 years if Advantage plans are paid similarly to traditional Medicare coverage.
• Medical malpractice . Traditionally, one of the biggest no-no for Democrats on healthcare reform was the reform of medical malpractice. It was a battle between doctors who believe they are vulnerable to unfair prosecution and politicians who believe consumers are vulnerable to poor doctors. President Obama is playing both sides of the fence in one direction, saying it is against price cap malpractice, it is fine to reduce lawsuits.

  But medical malpractice is a double-edged sword. Because doctors can be sued if they do not play, many are called "defensive medicine," or order up a lot of expensive health care treatments, even if they are not needed. So while defensive medicine helps protect doctors against prosecution, it drives up the overall cost of health care.

• A public health insurance plan . Doctors fear a public plan that would provide Medicare payments as health providers, but President Obama argued that a public plan would reduce long-term costs and without it, the costs of health care increasingly detrimental payments doctor anyway.

Another key element of this speech was, well, he addressed WADA to all. The president was clear that he wanted to keep all parties, associations of physicians included in the conversation and the debate on reform.

And most reports completed after the speech said the president was quite well received by the physician group. How all this opening support Obama and other health reformers on Capitol Hill is still a big question unanswered.

For more information and to see the speech, see this article in the New York Times.

In a letter to the White House and Congress, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke approved a "mandate of the employer is fair and broad in its coverage," reports the New York Times . Wal-Mart, the largest employer private country, has long resisted a group health insurance mandate.

This new position stunned more than a few people. Not to mention the letter was co-signed by the service employees international Union and the liberal think tank Center for American Progress in. - Strange companions for a company with an embattled history with unions and a reputation for being stingy with benefits

Now that the reform of health care is more more certain, companies are beginning to jockey for a seat at the negotiating table. Or as Rahm Emanuel said, "Everyone is trying to get their seat on the train," adding that other leaders also expressed support for the idea of ​​requiring employers to provide their workers the Health Insurance.

The tide is turning without any doubt. A pharmaceutical company salesman recently promised to reduce the costs of prescription drugs by $ 80 billion over the next decade. Hospitals have a similar agreement to reduce costs in the works.

What Wal-Mart negotiation for approval of a health insurance mandate? A guarantee that the costs of health care will be contained by what is called a trigger mechanism. They would like to see a system in place that the scope of automatic cuts if certain spending targets are not met.

Sit in the front row, ladies and gentlemen, the next round promises to be even more intense.

This weekend, the nation's governors gathered in Mississippi to talk about the imminent health insurance and federal health care reform bill and how it will affect the states.

the biggest concern for governors after the meeting was a provision that would increase Medicaid eligibility, reported New York Times .

in the reform project that is under consideration in the US House of Representatives, Medicaid would be expanded to accept Americans who earn 133 percent of the federal poverty level, and newborns no other insurance coverage.

While the increase seems to be small compared to say, the Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), it would still add about 11 million people on the federal budget.

And according to the Congressional Budget Office, which adds $ 438 billion in spending over the next 10 years.

governors of both parties are very concerned about what will most of them through hard budget constraints themselves. If Medicaid expansion should occur, the governors are worried most of the responsibility for the costs will be borne by the states.

"We can not have Congress impose requirements that we are forced to absorb beyond our capacity to do so," said the governor of Vermont Republican Jim Douglas.

Even Democratic governors were concerned about this provision.

"There is a concern about whether they have fully understood a revenue stream that would cover the costs, and if they do not have all the dollars accounted it will fall on the states, "said Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr., a Democrat.

This week is something a nail-biter for the revision of the health insurance and health care. When Senator Baucus Unveils finished proposal, the reaction to it quickly determine if it is bipartisan or if the Democrats have to go it alone. Like everyone else, we have our eyes trained on two Senators :. Michael B. Enzi and Charles E. Grassley

As we blogged last week, Senator Olympia J. Snowe already warmed to compromise on the bill. But the game of poker is with Mr. Grassley and Mr. Enzi: If they give an indication that they will not vote for the bill, they may have the arrangements they have won in the rejected negotiations. Of course, senators are not indicative of anything.

As if now the "group of six" all was not enough, Mr. Baucus faces another significant challenge yet equally crucial. It also has to orchestrate a deal between more than 23 finance committee members on the Medicaid expansion project. It will be a mess to sort because Medicaid affects every state so differently.

We noted that issues such as the public option and illegal immigrants have been getting the lion's share of publicity, but for many members of Congress - and countless governors and other state legislators - Medicaid is a bigger problem ... and has the potential to be even more divisive.

The insurance scheme public health is back.

Back on the ground.

Back on tour.

Back to the brand with new hair, new shoes and - sing, Patti - a new attitude.

which makes it politically viable this time? A small opt-out that may very well be the magic formula of the Obama administration sought.

The new vision for the public option proposes the establishment of a national health care plan that states can choose from. This means that the Republicans and conservative Democrats could easily sign on overall legislation knowing that they can see the actual decision to local governments.

And, obviously, he would board the Progressive Democrats who insist on a plan sponsored by the government. He has a good chance of collecting the bipartisanship that runs more deeply? Even better.

Now, it is true something similar has already been proposed (Carter map), in which states could choose to opt in for a national plan.

But it was felt that an opt-in would produce a government plan in 10-20 states while the obstacle of having to vote affirmatively for a public plan on a referendum could possibly increase this number to 47, reports the Huffington post .

This idea is still young, not yet formally introduced, but out of all that seethes in the current phase of amendments and the bill merger, it is that we keep an eye on.

as important as the passage of the House bill health insurance was the weekend, it was actually the easy part. The next step, the passage in the Senate, will prove far more treacherous. How much more treacherous? Let's review.

• In the House, Democrats enjoy a 258-177 majority. In the Senate, Republicans are also a minority, but have much more power.

• This means that Nancy Pelosi could afford to lose 40 votes from his own party and still pass the bill. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can not afford to lose a single vote of the caucus. And that's just to put the bill on the floor; he also needs to thwart a Republican filibuster.
• In addition, Pelosi exerts more control over the proceedings in the House that Mr. Reid is the Senate. She has a rules committee that determines the parameters of debate - including amendments are proposed. The best Reid can do is prepare for an ambush near-certain Republican amendments. And can Democrats.
• This also means that when the floor debate in the House only took one day he could (and probably) take several weeks in the Senate.

And at this point, there is not even a bill to try to bring to the floor. Why? For there are two bills that must be merged into one; many factions to be appeased among Democrats before addressing the Republican opposition; a credible threat of Senator Tom Coburn to read all the two thousand pages of draft aloud law.

Phew, that's a lot.

From where we're standing, the task of Mr. Reid made the passage of the bill in the House seem as easy as dropping a newspaper.

The Massachusetts Department of Revenue announced today ' hui that 45,000 registrants were issued a fine because they were considered by the state to be able to get health insurance, but had no coverage.

fines would provide the state with $ 16.4 million in revenue.

in total, there were about 4 million tax filers, reported Patriot Ledger . This means that a little over 1 percent of Massachusetts residents were found to be legal and able to afford health insurance but chose to defy the law of the state.

If these numbers are any where near that, at national level, that would probably be a very good thing for health insurance in the US This level of participation will spread a large financial risk through the country and allow private insurers to offer affordable health insurance plans.

The big question, of course, is how many of those newly insured salary bonuses in the private market and how many funds use taxpayers to get their coverage?

So what are the chances that the stars align? Most of us fear that the proposed health reform law will destroy everything. But if it works?

Well, it should be.

it may be easy to feel complacent with your current health insurance policy, but your age health plan might actually do not provide the coverage you need for 2010. and you might pay more for your coverage than you should.

Even if you have the perfect plan at the moment, he never really hurt to make a small health plan check- up.

most individual health insurance policyholders do not realize that carriers are known to adjust rates at the end of each year. for some, this adjustment can mean more premiums high.

the main reason for these annual premium increases is due to age. older, you are more likely to need costly health care and insurance companies increase rates accordingly. But there is not your age that matters, its other insured for your plane too.

group health insurance companies all their policyholders in separate groups or "pools." So everyone in each pool pays for health care of the other expenses through their payments premiums. As the average age of policyholders in the pool increases each year, so do the premiums for everyone.

The switch to a different plan or even another carrier is the best way to avoid these rate-ups. If you need advice with this, a licensed agent can help you compare health insurance quotes from several different carriers.

In addition, it is a good idea to review your benefits to ensure they are suitable for your needs. Say you are out of a drug from 09 and you need the most generous drug coverage prescription. Or you plan to start a family this year, you may need coverage for maternity care.

The revision of your top-down health plan will now make sure that you have the best health outcomes and cost-effective for the new year.

Anthem Blue Cross , the largest health insurance company in California, decided to contribute $ 6 million for California hospitals in an effort to improve patient safety and reduce costs of unnecessary health care.

An example, according Medscape.com are hospital-acquired infections (nosocomial infections) as providers costs of approximately $ 4.5 billion per year. This translates to more than 2 million extended hospital stays a year because of nosocomial infections.

We think it's a great thing that the hymn can contribute to help solve this problem.

California health care providers will also plan to meet all business quarters to discuss practices to reduce medical problems and compare data. These quarterly meetings will also pave the way for coordination between suppliers, better sharing of useful information and distribute accountability to another in order to make improvements.

This of course is a good thing. By taking initiatives to improve the quality and care, hospitals will reduce mortality rates, medical errors and repeat visits. These additional measures will save hospitals, insurers and insured money while controlling the costs of health care rising.

Kaiser Permanente is another big health insurance company has made efforts to improve the quality of hospital care. This nonprofit insurer collects and shares data with hospitals about patients' infections, which significantly decreased the number of nosocomial infections in the Kaiser Permanente HMO hospitals.

Infection Prevention and prolonged stays in hospital can be part of the key to reducing the rising costs of health care across the United States and it's great to see insurers take the reins.

Today a Pew Research Center has been published showing a majority of Americans believe that the health reform effort is not going to happen.

About 60 percent believe that health care and health insurance reform in Washington will not pass; 30 percent believe that it will become law.

But surprisingly, they are not at their worst. Just after the elected Senator Scott Brown won the special election in Massachusetts for the seat of Senator Edward Kennedy, nearly 70 percent of America thought health reform was made for.

In addition, as we have blogged about before, Virginia lawmakers are close to passing a state law that prohibits a federal health insurance mandate. The problem is, the state law would not hold against federal law.

Finally, President Obama included an extension of the COBRA subsidy for workers laid off at the end of 2010. The program can certainly be considered a success and is very popular with Americans. (Premiums for COBRA coverage can be hundreds of dollars, but an individual health insurance policy can be as low as $ 50 per month.)

So many things happen to the middle of the week and we'll see what happens next.