by Bruce Webb (Update. A tech problem currently prevents me from responding to comments, though not from updating the post. Keep those questions coming and maybe I can address them in a later post.) With the release of the Baucus Chairman’s Mark it became apparent that there are some profound misconceptions floating around the existing […]

by Bruce Webb (h/t kharris) A Summary of the Specifications for Health Insurance Coverage Provided by the Staff of the Senate Finance Committee. ‘Preliminary’ doesn’t begin to describe this, it is not even based on the full text of the Chairman’s mark as released this morning, which is probably just as well since that really […]

Andrew Samwick: Government bureaucrats don’t reduce costs. Market competition reduces costs. The challenge for health care reform is to get the market competition into the places where we want it — providers and insurers competing to deliver better services at lower prices — and out of the places where we don’t want it — insurers […]

by Bruce Webb For the last two months much of the talk around Health Care Reform has been about the Gang of Six of the Senate Finance Commitee to the point that some people think the Gang and the Committee are one and the same. But this is not true at all, this week Chairman […]

Via a former editor’s Twitter feed, the Simon Fraser Institute decides to segment the costs of Canadian health care. For the good of the people, of course: It is critically important, however, that Canadians understand the true cost of Medicare. Armed with a more meaningful estimate, Canadians will be able to better assess whether or […]

Or at least why the best case for BarryO and Co. is that I’m just not going to bother to vote for the next several years: Apparently, the American swing voter tends to think, “If I’m going to get screwed over, I want it to be by someone who is aggressive as possible about it.” […]

by Bruce Webb (Update Sept 9. This post generated some heated objections from one or more people who thought it libelous. I don’t agree but have been urged to make the following point: My posts on AB represent my own opinions and judgements and do not necessarily represent those of any other front page posters […]

by Bruce Webb HOLD THE PRESSES. I am deleting this post. It is not clear that the document posted on the Finance Committee website actually reflects Baucus’s new proposal. Why they chose to put an older document up this morning is a mystery. Until I get it figured out this will have to be a […]

by Bruce Webb The current line of attack on Health Care reform from Republicans is that it proposes to Rob Gramma to Pay Pedro. I am not going to address the care for illegals canard today but do want to probe just what HR3200 does for Medicare on net. Starting from the following two charts […]

by Bruce Webb DC and the blogosphere are all over the resurrection of the Public Option Trigger, the idea that with the right legislation the insurance companies would just straighten up and fly right. Most of the Left is pretty cynical about the idea and rightly so given the insurance companies several decade pattern on […]