Top 10 for '09: No. 2

No. 2: US House and Senate Pass Their Respective Healthcare Reform Bills

They said it couldn't be done, and they might still be right; but with a strong administrative push to reform America's sickly healthcare system, both the House and the Senate passed their respective bills this year. To the tune of more than $1 trillion in anticipated costs, the House measure narrowly passed on November 7. The price tag for the Senate bill, which ultimately prevailed on Christmas Eve, is a relative bargain at $871 million. The major difference between the two bills: the creation of a new government (ie, public) insurance plan, which the House bill stipulates.

Not much posting here at the Pathophilia blog about healthcare reform, largely because the topic seemed like such a complicated mess. The New York Times is the recommended go-to source, however. Among the paper's many useful features on the subject is a comparison of the proposed bills, an abbreviated version of which is tabulated here.

a. At national level.
b. At state or regional level.
c. But not eligible for federal subsidies.
d. Coverage now through Medicaid or national insurance exchange.
e. Would extend CHIP.

The House's reform would be supported by new taxes on medical devices and individuals with very high incomes (eg, >$500,000). The Senate would levy a hefty tax on high-premium group-health plans and charge annual fees to drug, device, and insurance companies. Both bills would attempt to "squeeze" hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicare by restricting its growth.

To my knowledge, neither bill proposes cost savings through the use of information technology (IT)—which is probably wise. Harvard researchers recently concluded that IT doesn't reduce hospital costs.