The 36th legislative delegation - Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles , Reps. Mary Lou Dickerson and Reuven Carlyle - will host a town hall at the end of the month with the chair of the Senate Health Long-Term Care Committee, Sen. Karen Keiser , and the chair of the House Health Care Wellness Committee, Rep. Eileen Cody . The meeting will address current issues surrounding the health care debate, and Keiser and Cody will discuss the potential impact of federal health reform efforts on W

Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges.Here’s how much the Congressional Budget Office says a new health reform bill in the Senate would cost: $829 billion over 10 years.The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post , Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal all used that figure to describe the bill’s 10-year price tag.All noted that it would reduce the number of uninsured by 29 million people. In 10 years, all said, 94 percent of Americans under age 65 — the age at whic

To the dismay of many liberal lawmakers, the Senate Finance Committee famously excluded a public option in its health reform bill, instead proposing the creation of state-based health care cooperatives to bring insurance costs down. For the second time, the Congressional Budget Office has determined that those co-ops simply won’t have the bulk to compete with private insurers in most regions. The proposed co-ops had very little effect on the estimates of total enrollment in the exchanges

Odds are pretty good that after some tortuous meetings and awful compromises by House and Senate bigwigs whatever health reform law is passed by Congress will not be close to what most thoughtful people want. Especially not what progressives and liberals wanted from a Democrat controlled Congress. Will President Obama act with integrity? Whatever goes to President Obama for his signature will probably do very little to curb the countless excesses by the health insurance industry and, therefo

October 3, 2009 — by Tinker Ready From the NYTimes story on an amendment to the Senate bill to soften penalties low income people who cannot afford mandated coverage. Photo by var resaMembers of the committee changed the bill to exempt an estimated two million people who would face financial burdens in buying even the cheapest insurance available. Lawmakers delayed and reduced the penalties for others.The action, taken by a vote of 22 to 1, came after lawmakers heard an impassioned plea from