President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders on Wednesday said they would like to steer a comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system through the House of Representatives by the end of July.
That would put the legislation on course for a debate in both the House and Senate during the fall and possibly meet Obama’s desire to sign a healthcare overhaul into law by the end of the year.
“We don’t have any excuses. The stars are aligned,” said Obama, who has devoted much of this week to his drive to spur momentum behind the healthcare legislation.
via Obama says House looks to back healthcare in July | Global Industries | Health & Drugs | Reuters .
The head of the largest medical technology trade group in the US told Massachusetts medical device executives today he is optimistic about the prospects for healthcare reform in the first year of the Obama administration.
Stephen J. Ubl, chief executive of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, known as AdvaMed, said White House officials “have made a calculation that healthcare has more of a political payoff than energy in the short term.” They’ve also “paid a lot of attention to the Clinton reform debacle” of the early 1990s so as not to repeat the mistakes of the last Democratic administration, Ubl said.
Key components of the Obama health plan, many of them mirroring steps taken in Massachusetts, incdlue universal health coverage, subsidies to assure affordability, insurance reform, and measures to encourage prevention and better management of chronic diseases, Ubl said.
via Medical tech group optimistic on healthcare reform – Daily Business Update – The Boston Globe.