Selected stories from the daily newsletter CQ HealthBeat from the week of October 19, 2009. Provided as a service under rights licensed by The Commonwealth Fund. The full-text version of this newsletter is available in the Health Reform section of
commonwealthfund.org.
An array of public option possibilities in the health care overhaul now confronts House Democrats, who just a short time ago saw the concept nearly scuttled after a tumultuous August recess. Read more »
Now that senators are open to a health care compromise that would include a public insurance option, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is feeling less of a need to include a far-reaching government insurance plan in the bill she plans to bring to the House floor in the coming weeks. Read more »
More than a dozen House Democrats who have long complained that their regions are shortchanged in Medicare reimbursements lined up behind a health care overhaul bill (HR 3200) after Democratic leaders agreed to a geographic fix.
Read more »
The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would partially repeal a 60-year-old exemption from antitrust law for health insurers. Read more »
Legislation that would stop cuts to Medicare's physician payment rates over the next decade failed to surmount a procedural test in the Senate, sending Democratic leaders back to the drawing board. Read more »
For the third year in a row, the quality of health care in the United States has not improved, according to the National Committee for Quality Assurance's 2009 report. Read more »