NEJM Article Examines Health Care in the Mid-Term Election

A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) examines various public polls assessing the public's mood on health reform and how it might affect the results of Tuesday's mid-term Congressional election.  Robert Blendon and John Benson of the Harvard School of Public Health argue that not only will health reform affect how individuals vote, but also that Tuesday's outcome could have a significant impact on the rest of health reform implementation. 

The authors show that Americans' view of health reform remained relatively stable before and after reform's passage.  Additionally, they put forth the following six assertions:

• Americans today generally have very negative views about the general direction of the country, which can be seen in their inclination to not vote for incumbent candidates
• Health care is an important but secondary issue in the election, with jobs and the federal budget deficit being at the forefront
• More than seven months since reform's passage, a majority of Americans neither support or oppose the package; however, 38% of registered votes believe that the US economy will be worse off than better off (21%) because of the health reform law
• 41% of registered votes think that most provisions of the law should be repealed and replaced with a completely different set of proposals
• Most registered voters (73%) who intend to vote for a Democrat support the reform law, while 80% of registered votes who intend to vote for a Republican oppose the law
• Polling results indicate that there is considerable political uncertainty about the future of the health reform law

The complete article can be found by clicking here.

Mental Health Parity Page

The Partnership for Workplace Mental Health has created a "Parity Page" that contains a wealth of information on the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.

A resource for learning more about how to comply with the new federal requirements, the page includes a timeline of the parity law, an outline of the associated interim final rules, results from an employer survey on parity, and a research issue brief.

To access the parity page, click here.

COBRA Subsidy Extended and Medicare Doc Fix Delayed

On March 2, President Obama signed into law “Temporary Extension Act of 2010,” (H.R. 4961) staving off the expiration of federal COBRA subsidies for 30 days while also delaying a 21% cut in Medicare provider payments. After the House had approved this bill last week, Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY), voicing his objections to how the bill would be financed, initiated and wouldn't back down from a filibuster until late Tuesday night.

Aimed at extending COBRA and unemployment insurance even further, the Senate is set to begin debate on a $150 billion bill introduced by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT). The bill would extend these benefits through December 31, 2010.

For more on these development, click here to access the Kaiser Health News story.

White House to Release Compromise Health Bill

In anticipation of next Thursday's bipartisan health care summit at Blair House in Washington, the White House is expected to release on Monday a "compromise" draft health reform bill. The intent is to attach the health bill to a budget bill, so as to avoid a Republican filibuster in the Senate and be advanced using a parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation, which requires only 51 votes instead of the usual 60 vote supermajority for passage. The President's plan is expected to be released, and posted on the Internet, on Monday.

Click here to read more.

Senator-Elect Brown to be Sworn In Feb. 11th

The Hill reports that Senator-elect Scott Brown (R-MA) will be sworn-in to his US Senate seat Thursday, February 11th, giving Republicans 41 seats in the upper chamber.

Democrats, since the Massachusetts special election, have been scrambling to form a strategy for advancing their health reform legislation through Congress and eventually reaching President Obama's desk.

For more, click here.

First Wave of COBRA Subsidies Nearing End

Kaiser Health News reports on the soon-to-expire federal COBRA subsidy for workers involuntarily terminated between September, 2008 and December, 2009. As the end of the first wave of subsidies approaches, many workers face the challenge of paying for health insurance coverage, and perhaps forgoing important medical treatment. President Obama has stated that he thinks Congress should make extending the subsidy period a priority, but the issue has not been marked for consideration on the calendars of either chamber. There are, however, two proposed bills waiting to be debated.

Read the complete article by clicking here.

Further coverage, from the New York Times, can be found here.