News from Congress - follow up later

from NASDAQ.com this morning


UPDATE: http://finance.senate.gov/healthreform2009/home.html

The report runs 98 pages, so you may want to wait for the summary!



Baucus To Release Call For Health Care Reform

(RTTNews) - The calls for President-elect Barack Obama to move quickly on health care reform will strengthen Wednesday with a call from the head of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont).

Baucus will unveil a "white paper" report titled "Call to Action: Health Reform 2009" at a Washington news conference.

The package will recommend policy changes in numerous areas "as a means of achieving a goal of affordable, accessible health care for every single American," Baucus' office said Tuesday.
The Finance Committee oversees major parts of the nation's health care system, including Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance program. It also carries jurisdiction over all tax policy changes, including those affecting the health care system.

The Baucus package joins a growing call to Obama to act quickly on health care reform.
On Tuesday, a group of four major advocacy organizations - the Business Roundtable, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the AARP and the Service Employees International Union - sent a letter to the President-elect urging that health care reform be a priority for the administration in its first 100 days in office.

"Addressing skyrocketing healthcare costs is a critical component of stabilizing household, national and global economies," the letter said. "Inaction undermines the economic security of our families; limits the productivity of our workforce; stagnates job creation and wage growth; and threatens to crowd out investments in energy, education and infrastructure

The advocacy groups are planning a $1 million dollar marketing campaign to push the reform movement in the coming weeks............................