BlueCross BlueShield of Texas (BCBSTX) published a memo on their website that covers where they stand on the much talked about health care reform debate going on in Washington.  BCBSTX does believe strongly that health care reform is in fact needed and affordable health insurance should be available to all Americans. On the table currently […]

The idea of connectors, exchanges, gateways and purchasing pools are far more than a fad, they’ve been around far too long. A purchasing pool was central to the Clinton Administration health care reform effort in the 1990s. They have been enacted in several states (although the California version, created in 1993, has since gone out-of-business). […]

President Barack Obama’s approach to health care reform has been a bit unusual. Many of his predecessors have taken the Moses approach to major legislation. They descend from the mountain top with legislation chiseled in stone, hand it to Congress and in their best imitation of Charlton Heston (Republicans) or Patrick Stewart (Democrats) instruct them […]

For health care reform, the next few weeks will be critical. Congressional committees are poised to pass legislation (to put this in perspective, this never happened during the Clinton Administration’s reform efforts in 1993-94). President Obama and his aides will become even more engaged concerning the legislative language they would like to see Congress enact. […]

So much for common ground on health care reform in the United States Senate. It wasn’t that long ago, May 30th to be exact, that Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus and Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy issued a joint statement that read, “”For both of us, reforming the nation’s health […]

President Barack Obama wants health care reform. He sincerely believes we need to fix what’s broken in the current system because it is the right thing to do and as a necessary step to get America’s economy moving forward again. He has put forward what elements he wants to see as part of comprehensive reform package, […]

The legislative process is like Kabuki Theater. Very stylized. Clear-cut characters. Starts off slow, proceeds through several acts, ends fast and furious. The Congressional tussle over health care reform is no exception. We have the champions of the left and right pounding across the stage, striking poses, shouting out their predictable lines, scaring the bejeebies (whatever […]

Health care reform is not for the weak willed. Just ask President Barack Obama. As Congress continues to draft legislation the President is expending his political capital to mobilize supporters of his reform package while at the same time seeking to soften the opposition. As tough as the task lawmakers face, President Obama’s is in […]