Topic: Paying for Health Care

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In Pictures: Who's who on the US deficit super committee
Who's who on Congress's debt 'super committee'

Congress has created a special super committee to find at least $1.2 trillion in US budget cuts. If the plan is voted down, automatic spending cuts are slated to occur. Here are the 12 lawmakers named to the super committee.
Budget cuts: five groups likely to feel the pinch

If there's one thing that's lacking in the debt deal that president signed on Aug. 2, it's specifics. It asks for $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years, but gives few concrete details about where they'll come from. The deal does outline some changes for student loans, and it leaves out renewals for a couple of unemployment benefits programs. But most of the envisioned budget cuts won't become clearer until this fall, when a 12-member, bipartisan "super committee" gives its recommendations to Congress. Some Americans may be particularly vulnerable to their budget choices. Here are five groups who could see a reduction in government largesse:
In Pictures: Who's who in the US debt crisis
Obama open to short-term deal on debt ceiling. Here are five ideas.

The White House announced Wednesday it would support a short-term deal to raise the debt ceiling. Suddenly, Washington is awash in prospects for a deal. Check out these five.

All Content

Social Security recipients see 3.5 percent raise

Social Security recipients have not received a raise since 2009. That is set to change in 2012, when Social Security checks will be about 3.5 percent more than the last two years.
Robert Reich
Republican debates have lots of viewers, but no answers

Tonight’s Republican debate may attract lots of viewers. It need not capture their minds.
Economist Mom
AARP's offensive new ad campaign

AARP's new ad campaign deems Social Security and Medicare benefits off limits. But would most members agree with that position if they understood it was just insuring that even more of the debt would be shifted to their children and grandchildren?
Government suspends home-care provision of health-care reform law

The CLASS act, a provision in the heath-care reform law designed to help the disabled and elderly cash to receive care at home, could not be both voluntary and budget-neutral, say health officials.
The Daily Reckoning
What Occupy Wall Street is really about

The system has failed Americans in a multitude of ways. But that doesn't absolve anyone of personal responsibility for his own problems.
Robert Reich
The seven biggest economic lies

This nation can't improve unless more Americans know the truth about the economy
On the Economy
A particularly bad cut

Why cutting funding to community health centers is a devastating mistake
Donald Marron
High-deductible health plans growing

The employer market is moving toward more consumer-driven plans. Will that translate into lower health spending?
Next big obstacle for Obama's Affordable Care Act? It's not just the Supreme Court.

The success of the new health care law depends on enrolling 30 million people in insurance plans. If officials don't clarify and simplify that enrollment process, the law will amount to a significant waste of time and taxpayer dollars.
On the Economy
Why commissions can't solve the economy's problems

Commissions, or expert panels, try to solve subjective problems objectively and amplify cynicism about the government
Donald Marron
Health insurance premiums skyrocket

Family health insurance premiums jumped nine percent in 2011. That's the fastest health insurance inflation since 2005.
On the Economy
Government-regulated health care saves money

Why a federally regulated approach to health care has proven more cost-effective than initiatives aimed at generating private competition
Tax VOX
Buffett rule: All about capital gains

Obama's objection—and Buffett’s—is not with rates paid by the average taxpayer who makes a million dollars or more a year Rather it is with those in this group who make most of their money from investments.
Vox News
Jon Stewart is hosting Ron Paul. What will he ask him?

Jon Stewart has said Ron Paul hasn't been given his fair share of coverage by the media. On Monday he is hosting the GOP candidate on 'The Daily Show.' And there is lots to talk about.
Medicare could save $125 billion

Medicare and Medicaid could save the money through coordinating care, a study says. Some 9 million elderly are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
The Daily Reckoning
The real cause of economic stagnation

In today's changing economy, it's no longer true that you get out what you put in
On the Economy
Class warfare? Hardly.

Opinions on the president's debt plan
$3 trillion in deficit reduction from Obama

$3 trillion in deficit cuts from Obama will be paid for with taxes on the wealthy. The $3 trillion plan is a longer-term follow up to the $447 million in tax cuts and public spending that the president announced as part of a short-term stimulus plan.
Tax VOX
Everything you need to know about Obama's $3 trillion debt plan

The Buffet rule, "class warfare," and the key role of taxes in the $3 trillion debt plan
'Buffett tax' is not class warfare, 'it's math,' Obama says

'Buffett tax': $3 trillion in deficit savings must come, at least in part, from raising taxes on the rich, President Obama said Monday. He ripped the GOP for calling his proposal 'class warfare.'
Robert Reich
What you won't hear about during the 2012 election

Why progressive ideas like wage increases and medicare won't be mentioned during presidential debates
Obama's deficit plan is just the first for 'super committee' to consider (video)

President Obama’s plan to cut the deficit by some $3 trillion faces robust competition in a Congress already awash in competing principles to get America back to a sustainable path.
Cuts to Medicare? Progressives anxious ahead of Obama's deficit plan.

President Obama releases his latest deficit-reduction plan Monday. It will contain no changes to Social Security, the White House says, but no such announcement has been made about other entitlement programs.
Robert Reich
The Republican weapon of mass cynicism

77 percent of Americans mistrust the government. But a lack of faith is bad for all of us.
Tax VOX
Obama's cap on tax deductions: not what it seems

Some of the president's choices, including failing to help make insurance more affordable for low-wage workers, are questionable.