Today, President-elect Barack Obama nominated former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle as secretary of health and human services and named him the director of a new White House Office of Health Reform.

In his dual roles, Daschle will not only implement Obama’s vision at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but also have the responsibility of leading health care reform. During a morning press conference at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, Obama said Daschle will be “the White House’s voice on this critical issue.”
Read more »

In March 2003, President George W. Bush proposed a new framework to modernize and improve Medicare to Congress. Eight months later, on December 8, President Bush signed the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003.

Designed to help seniors pay prescription drug bills, the president hailed his reforms, but a growing number of critics are finding fault with the new benefit. The basic question remains: will the Bush Administration drug benefit help seniors pay for their medicine?

Medicare is a federal government program that provides health insurance for seniors aged 65 and above, as well as people with disabilities and those with permanent kidney failure. The original Medicare plan only covers prescription drugs in a few cases, like certain cancer medicines. Read more »

As regular readers know, I have been writing lately about the high cost of medicine and how it is affecting not just our seniors and Medicaid recipients but also the working poor who are struggling to stay off the welfare rolls.

I know a young mother who makes minimum wage, has three children and no health insurance? Yeah, they can always go to Cook County Hospital. But not the way people used to. Now, even the folks at Cook County Hospital want to know how they are going to be paid. This situation is scary for a lot of people and I mean those with and without the Medicaid card. Read more »