Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

The Campaign Trail to Health, Pt.1 – A day at the Forum

The Medical News Today team has provided an up-to-date look at the confidence level and prospects of health insurance/care reform, as proposed by the disparate nominees. As posted on their website, they bring out the results of the recent poll given by the Washington Post-ABC News team. These results showed public confidence of Obama’s health insurance/care having a good 53% lead over McCain’s presumptive health insurance/care proposal, with only 33%. The poll was comprised of a 1,125-adult random sample by conducting telephone interviews. It took place over the June 12 to June 15 span. The sampling error margin was 3 percentage points, (plus or minus). CQ HealthBeat informs us that on Friday, the AARP held a Solutions Forum to discuss health insurance/care. Both Obama and McCain advisers attended. They both agreed on the importance of keeping Medicare in the center of the health insurance/care reform discussions. One of Obama’s advisors is David Cutler, who is also an economics professor at Harvard University. His comment was that “big changes in the private sector are impossible without changes in the public sector.” Thomas Miller is an adviser to McCain and also a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He responded to Cutler statement by noting several difficulties with modifying Medicare significantly. To note”

• It’s politically difficult without much more public awareness.
• It’s politically difficult because the groundwork has not been laid out.
• It’s politically difficult because no one has done this before.
• It’s politically difficult because nothing’s been started.
• It’s politically difficult because neither campaign is resolutely committed to it yet.

Continued…