The Majority Leader of the US Senate, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has at last presented a working Senate version of health care reform legislation and an already bitter debate on its wide-ranging provisions is now underway.  That debate started after the Senate held a vote November 21st on the motion to proceed to the bill currently before the Senate, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  While heralded as a victory for the majority Democrats, all this motion does is signal the start of debate.  According to Nebraska Democrat Senator Ben Nelson, “The Senate owes Americans a full and open debate to try to improve our health care system,” and all he has personally voted to support is to have debate on the bill begin.  The acid test will be how they fare on a motion to close off debate (cloture) which is likely to be much harder to gather the 60 votes needed. more>>

The Medicare Committee of the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) is pleased to offer the chiropractic profession the new CHIROPRACTIC AND MEDICARE IN THE 2008 ELECTIONS AND BEYOND. This 28-page discussion paper explores in unprecedented depth many important dimensions of the vital issue of Medicare and chiropractic’s role therein. This document represents the second generation of such an undertaking, and has its foundations in the White Paper on the Future of Chiropractic in Medicare presented by ICA for comment in November 2007. That document was widely circulated within the chiropractic profession with more than 4,000 printed copies disseminated and over 12,000 electronic copies either distributed or downloaded from ICA’s website. That draft paper stimulated over 1,200 individual comments offering a wide range of recommendations and requests for additional data. The substance of those comments was incorporated into this draft where they offered positive ideas or pointed out weaknesses in the level or clarity of information or commentary in the earlier edition.. more»

In an innovative and grass roots based outreach effort, the Obama Administration is seeking direct input from members of the public on national health care reform. Through a new White House Office of Health Reform with a new website, www.healthreform.gov, individuals are invited to tell their personal stories concerning issues, problems, positive new ideas and success stories related to national health care reform. more»

In a new phase of health policy development, on April 21, 2009 the Senate Finance Committee convened the first of a series of three “roundtable” discussions aimed at finalizing the general outlines of a national health care reform initiative.

In a statement on the purpose of the day’s discussions, which referenced an ambitious deadline for finishing major health reform legislation in June 2009, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) said: more»