$12,680: Annual family health care insurance premium in 2008, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. If employer-based, a 70/30 employer/employee cost split is typical.
$9,827: The annual hidden tax imposed by defensive medicine on a typical family of 4 in the US.
$43 Million: Total contributions by attorneys to the 2008 Obama for president campaign.
1300%: Increase in TV ad spending by Malpractice attorneys from 2004 to 2008.
1,300 Percent. That’s the increase in TV ad spending by malpractice attorneys between 2004 and 2008, according to a new study conducted by the Institute for Legal Reform. The number of ads over the same period skyrocketed from about 10,150 in 2004 to more than 156,000 in 2008.
An earlier blog post – Tort reform will lower costs, improve access, quality of care – discussed the annual $10,000 hidden tax imposed on a family of four by the defensive medical strategies doctors employ to avoid malpractice suits. So why is there little or no mention of tort reform in the current health care proposals? Read more »
Martha Coakley, Democrat and Massachusetts Attorney General, has officially announced her candidacy to fill the Senate vacancy left by Ted Kennedy’s passing.
She gets the headstart, but with the long holiday weekend I wonder how many people will be paying attention. Read more »
That moment in The Great Obamacare War arrived yesterday, when the Speaker of the House stood firm on the public option, essentially telling the White House to go pound sand.
In effect, Speaker Pelosi just called in an air-strike on her own position.
This is not going to be pretty.
It will likely cost her the Speakership. After the 2010 elections.
Matt Frei’s commentary on the BBC News website, titled Washington diary: Obama’s slump, is so full of BS I don’t even know where to begin. Granted, it’s an opinion piece, but millions of people around the world watch or listen to BBC News every day, and the line between reporting opinions and facts is increasingly blurred, especially at the BBC.
Let’s skip by the “redefining the relationship with the rest of the world” – after all, it looks like Gitmo won’t be closed anytime soon and Iran hasn’t backed down on its nuclear threat. Instead, let’s start with Frei’s supposed neighbor, “Republican Dave”, who voted for Obama because “he could not stomach the thought of Sarah Palin being one heartbeat away from the Oval Office”. How big a factor in President Obama’s election were voters like Dave? According to CNN, 9% of self-identified Republicans voted for Obama. Referring to President Obama, Frei states: “It is the wobbly Obama Republicans – like my friend Dave – that he really needs to worry about.” Read more »
You can bet they won’t let it die, though. The Hill reports that the Cap and Trade bill will not be out of committee before the end of September. The reported reason? Ted Kennedy’s passing:
“Because of Senator Kennedy’s recent passing, Senator Kerry’s August hip surgery, and the intensive work on healthcare legislation particularly on the Finance Committee where Sen. Kerry serves, Majority Leader Reid has agreed to provide some additional time to work on the final details of our bill, and to reach out to colleagues and important stakeholders,” Sens. Boxer (D-Calif.) and Kerry (D-Mass.) said in a joint statement.