A Blue Dog With Time and Clout on his side-Washington Post

A Blue Dog with Time and Clout on his side- Washington Post: "A few weeks ago, Rep. Mike Ross, a little-known conservative Democrat from Arkansas, seemed an unlikely power broker poised to put the brakes on the president's plan for a fast-track health-care reform bill."

Support Slips for Health Plan - WSJ.com

Support Slips for Health Plan - WSJ.com: "Support for President Barack Obama's health-care effort has declined over the past five weeks, particularly among those who already have insurance, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found, amid prolonged debate over costs and quality of care."

Support Slips for Health Plan - WSJ.com

Support Slips for Health Plan - WSJ.com: "-- Support for President Barack Obama's health-care effort has declined over the past five weeks, particularly among those who already have insurance, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found, amid prolonged debate over costs and quality of care."

Fat accompli: Congress's weight issue- Politico.com

Fat accompli: Congress's weight issue-Politico.com: Supposedly preoccupied with costs and how to reduce them, the various committees involved in producing health care legislation have all but ignored the, well, husky animal in the room: fat people."

Lawmakers Cut Health Bill's Price Tag-Washington Post

Lawmakers Cut Health Bill's Price Tag-Washington Post: Key lawmakers on Wednesday moved to cut roughly $100 billion from the cost of health-care reform proposals as they sought to break weeks of gridlock on President Obama's signature legislative initiative before Congress departs for a month-long recess."

Obama Defends Health Agenda - WSJ.com

Obama Defends Health Agenda - WSJ.com: "President Barack Obama, acknowledging the rising protests against his health-care efforts, took some of the sharpest jabs yet at his opponents, accusing them of rallying opposition with scare tactics and hypocrisy."

Top Senate aide: Health deal not "imminient" - POLITICO.com

Top Senate aide: Health deal not "imminent"- POLITICO.com: "A top aide to Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is pushing back against a WaPo story [Actually, the headline more than the story] claiming that a health care deal -- sans a public option -- is 'close.'"

Key Republican says on "edge" of US halthcare deal-Reuters

Key Republican says on "edge" of US healthcare deal-Reuters: "Republican and Democratic senators negotiating financial details of healthcare reform have made great progress and are on the verge of a deal, a key Republican senator said on Wednesday."

Memo: No Health Vote Before Recess - POLITICO.com

Memo: No Health Vote Before Recess- POLITICO.com: "Democratic leaders have apparently thrown in the towel -- telling their Republican counterparts that there will be no health care vote on the House floor before the August recess starts this Friday, according a Republican memo obtained by POLITICO."

'Blue Dog' Democrats Are Resisting the Health-Care Vote - WSJ.com

'Blue Dog' Democrats Are Resisting the Health-Care Vote - WSJ.com: "So-called Blue Dog Democrats continued to resist key aspects of their party's health-care overhaul Sunday, despite pressure from party leaders who fear they will endanger President Barack Obama's most ambitious legislative effort."

Reid: No Vote on Health-Care Reform Before Aug. Recess - washingtonpost.com

Reid: No Vote on Health-Care Reform Before Aug. Recess - washingtonpost.com: "Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) confirmed Thursday that the Senate would not pass health-care reform legislation before the August recess."

Obama Seeks to Calm Nation's Fears About Health-Care Reform - washingtonpost.com

Obama Seeks to Calm Nation's Fears About Health-Care Reform - washingtonpost.com: "President Obama confronted increasing doubts about the impact of widespread changes to the health-care system, seeking to assure middle-class Americans on Wednesday that the landmark legislation he envisions would improve their quality of life and is essential to curing the nation's economic ills."

Waxman, Blue Dogs strike deal on costs - POLITICO.com

Waxman, Blue Dogs strike deal on costs - POLITICO.com: "Moderate House Democrats and a key committee chairman emerged from a three-hour meeting at the White House on Tuesday with a tentative agreement to give an outside panel — rather than Congress — the power to make cuts to government-financed health care programs"

Lobbying Spending Rises Only Slightly Amid Health Overhaul - WSJ.com

Lobbying Spending Rises Only Slightly Amid Health Overhaul - WSJ.com: "Major health-care companies and lobbying organizations reported only a marginal increase in lobbying activity in the past three months, despite a drive by Democrats to overhaul the industry."

Obama Talks Health Bill With House Panel - WSJ.com

Obama Talks Health Bill With House Panel - WSJ.com: "Democrats from the House Energy and Commerce Committee emerged from a meeting Tuesday with President Barack Obama saying no decisions had been made on new ways to cut the price tag of health-care legislation."

Obama Ups Ante on Health - WSJ.com

Obama Ups Ante on Health - WSJ.com: "President Barack Obama is significantly raising his personal stake in the effort to overhaul America's health-care system, as Democrats and the public express growing unease about the costs."

Health-Care Firms Have Supported Lawmakers Debating Reform - washingtonpost.com

Health-Care Firms Have Supported Lawmakers Debating Reform - washingtonpost.com: "As liberal protesters marched outside, Sen. Max Baucus sat down inside a San Francisco mansion for a dinner of chicken cordon bleu and a discussion of landmark health-care legislation under consideration by his Senate Finance Committee."

President Obama mixes it up in health- POLITICO.com

President Obama mixes it up in health-care brawl - POLITICO.com: "President Barack Obama dove into the political street-fight threatening his signature issue Monday — taking aim at a first-term Republican senator in hopes of rallying Democrats increasingly nervous about Obama-style reform."

Democrats May Limit Tax Increases for Health Care Plan - NYTimes.com

Democrats May Limit Tax Increases for Health Care Plan - NYTimes.com: "As President Obama began a new push to overhaul the health system, Democratic Congressional leaders, bowing to unease among lawmakers and governors in their own party, on Monday suggested scaling back a plan to tax top earners to pay for the sweeping legislation and signaled a retreat from their ambitious timetable.

Ad Campaigns Aim at Health Overhaul - WSJ.com

Ad Campaigns Aim at Health Overhaul - WSJ.com: "Major business groups are launching a series of new advertising campaigns aimed at shaping Congress' health overhaul."

Medtronic Valve That Avoids Major Surgery Clears a Hurdle - WSJ.com

Medtronic Valve That Avoids Major Surgery Clears a Hurdle - WSJ.com: "The Food and Drug Administration said a Medtronic Inc. heart valve that can be implanted without open-heart surgery met study goals for safety and effectiveness, but it raised concerns about stent fractures seen in some patients."

Obama Making Push on Health as G.O.P. Steps Up Criticism - NYTimes.com

Obama Making Push on Health as G.O.P. Steps Up Criticism - NYTimes.com: "With President Obama set to step up his focus on health care this week, the political battle over the plan working its way through Congress is entering a new register, and Republicans are pushing back in ever sharper language"

Obama Heads to the Front to Do Battle on Health-Care Reform - washingtonpost.com

Obama Heads to the Front to Do Battle on Health-Care Reform - washingtonpost.com: "Six months into his presidency, Barack Obama may have no greater test of his ability to translate personal popularity into a successful legislative agenda than the upcoming two weeks."

Doctors' Payments Snag Health Bill - WSJ.com

Doctors' Payments Snag Health Bill - WSJ.com: "plan to end a program that would cut government payments to doctors is emerging as the flash point in the debate over whether President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the health system would increase the federal budget deficit."

House Committee OK's Health Care Bill - washingtonpost.com

House Committee OK's Health Care Bill - washingtonpost.com: "A second House committee has approved health care legislation that President Barack Obama is seeking."

Budget Blow for Health Plan - WSJ.com

Budget Blow for Health Plan - WSJ.com: "Congress's chief budget scorekeeper cast a new cloud over Democratic efforts to overhaul the nation's health-care system, telling lawmakers Thursday that the main proposals being considered would fail to contain costs -- one of the primary goals -- and could actually worsen the problem of rapidly escalating medical spending."

Medical-Device Suits Allege Kickbacks - WSJ.com

Medical-Device Suits Allege Kickbacks - WSJ.com: "Former employees of certain medical-device makers allege in lawsuits unsealed in a Texas federal court that the companies paid kickbacks to heart surgeons to get the doctors to use their products to treat the heart-rhythm defect called atrial fibrillation."

Why We Must Ration Health Care - NYTimes.com

Why We Must Ration Health Care - NYTimes.com: "You have advanced kidney cancer. It will kill you, probably in the next year or two. A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give you an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much?"

Senate committee passes health bill - msnbc.com

Senate committee passes health bill - msnbc.com: "The Senate health committee has passed legislation to revamp health care, becoming the first congressional committee to act on President Barack Obama's goal of overhauling the system this year."

Disclosure by Surgeon Is Faulted - WSJ.com

Disclosure by Surgeon Is Faulted - WSJ.com: "Washington University said a surgeon accused by the U.S. Army of falsifying a study favorable to Medtronic Inc. failed to tell the school he had a paid consulting arrangement with the medical-device maker."

Discord Hinders Health Bill - WSJ.com

Discord Hinders Health Bill - WSJ.com: "The effort to pass a health-care overhaul is being frustrated by divisions among Democrats over a wide range of issues, from how to pay for the measure to its impacts on small business and rural areas."

GOP's Grassley Key to Senate Hopes for a Bipartisan Deal on Health Care - WSJ.com

GOP's Grassley Key to Senate Hopes for a Bipartisan Deal on Health Care - WSJ.com: "Democrats now have a supermajority in the Senate. But their top priority, a health-care overhaul, may well need the blessing of a veteran Republican, Iowa's Chuck Grassley, if it has any hope of becoming law."

Senate Dems cool to House tax on rich- The Hill.com

Senate Dems cool to House tax on rich- The Hill.com: "Senate Democratic leaders signaled reservations Sunday to a House proposal to tax the rich to raise $540 billion for healthcare reform."

Health care deadline unlikely to be met - POLITICO.com

Health care deadline unlikely to be met - POLITICO.com: "Health care reform proponents are growing pessimistic that they can meet President Barack Obama’s August target for passing a bill — saying the next four weeks must fall together perfectly, without a hitch or a hiccup."

Health Deals Could Harbor Hidden Costs - NYTimes.com

Health Deals Could Harbor Hidden Costs - NYTimes.com: "The deals, trumpeted loudly by the White House, would each help pay for a sweeping overhaul of the health care system."

Harry Reid jumps into health negotiations - POLITICO.com

Harry Reid jumps into health negotiations - POLITICO.com: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) abruptly waded into health care reform negotiations Tuesday, telling Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that Democratic leaders had serious concerns about a bill that would tax health benefits and nix a strong public insurance option."

Support Slips for Tax on Employee Health Benefits - WSJ.com

Support Slips for Tax on Employee Health Benefits - WSJ.com: "Senators are cooling to a proposal that would impose a first-ever tax on employer-provided health insurance and are giving renewed attention to taxes on the wealthy to pay for a sweeping health-care overhaul."

Hospitals Reach Deal With Administration - washingtonpost.com

Hospitals Reach Deal With Administration - washingtonpost.com: "The nation's hospitals agreed last night to contribute $155 billion over 10 years toward the cost of insuring the 47 million Americans without health coverage, according to two industry sources."

White House Open to Deal on Public Health Plan - WSJ.com

White House Open to Deal on Public Health Plan - WSJ.com: "It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday."

Former Lawmakers and Congressional Staffers Hired to Lobby on Health Care - washingtonpost.com

Former Lawmakers and Congressional Staffers Hired to Lobby on Health Care - washingtonpost.com: "The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records."

Candidates Aplenty for Spending on Comparative Effectiveness - WSJ Health Blog

Candidates Aplenty for Spending on Comparative Effectiveness - WSJ Health Blog: "Earlier this year, the National Institutes of Health came up with a priority list of projects that should get priority for the $1.1 billion in research funding included in the economic stimulus package. Today, the Institute of Medicine issued its own recommendations for the 100 health topics it thinks should get funding."

Minnesota Supreme Court Declares Franken Winner in U.S. Senate Race - washingtonpost.com

Minnesota Supreme Court Declares Franken Winner in U.S. Senate Race - washingtonpost.com: "The Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday declared comedian-turned-politician Al Franken the winner of the state's U.S. Senate race, ending an eight-month-long election saga and giving Democrats a 60-seat majority that theoretically would allow them to block GOP filibusters."