commentaries

Jill Burcum: Health reform -- Is Oberstar part of Supak's pro-life 12?

Summary: Could a small but determined group of pro-life Democratic congressional representatives -- possibly including Minnesota's Jim Oberstar -- scuttle health care reform?

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Jill Burcum: Health care vs. defense? Hard choices lie ahead (2010).

Summary: With a Congressional vote on health care reform looming in the middle of this month, a thoughtful essay in the March 3 New England Journal of Medicine summed up nicely why the status quo really isn't an option:

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Jill Burcum: Voters tired of being reform "losers?" (2010)

Summary: Massachusetts, of course, passed historic health care legislation in 2006 that requires almost everyone to buy health insurance

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Jill Burcum: "Kent Conrad -- 'This (health care bill is ... not the status quo' (2009)

Summary: Kent Conrad, a Democrat, was a member of this select group, the proposals of which are expected to become the blueprint for any reform passed this fall.

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 Jill Burcum: 'Death panel' fears -- Mayo Clinic refutes them (2009).

Summary: It's the respected clinic's statement refuting the death panel idea that is the most valuable contribution to public debate.

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Jill Burcum: Medical device industry fights proposed health reform tax (2009).

Summary: The medical device industry, which has generally stayed out of the headlines when it comes to health care reform so far, is now campaigning hard against a new tax proposed in the influential Senate Finance Committee Bill.

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