Daily Pulse on Health Care Politics

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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June 18, 2009

Daily Pulse on Health Care Politics

Democrats have long said that overhauling health care will be difficult. And this week, CQ Politics notes that as Congress begins trying to move legislation, they have stumbled over how to provide broader coverage without sending taxpayers into sticker shock.

The Washington Post notes the "debate over a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health-care system got off to a rocky start in the Senate yesterday as lawmakers delayed action on one key bill and engaged in partisan sniping over another."

Nonetheless, Senate leaders said they "are still on track to put a bill on the floor by midsummer."

Meanwhile, the AP reports four former Senate leaders released a health care plan "that combines ideas from both political parties to guarantee coverage for all."

Democrats Tom Daschle and George Mitchell joined Republicans Bob Dole and Howard Baker yesterday "to release a $1.2 trillion proposal that would be fully paid for with a combination of spending cuts and tax increases."

New polling: When it comes to reforming the health care system, Gallup finds that Americans are more confident in Barack Obama (58%) and Congressional Democrats (42%) than Congressional Republicans (34%).

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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June 18, 2009