Barack Obama's health reforms: The view from West Virginia

"What will health reform do for the unhealthiest Americans?HIS bedside manner would unnerve the most stoical of patients. In the past eight years, says Barack Obama, health-insurance premiums have grown four times faster than wages. Every year a million Americans lose their coverage. The crushing cost of health care causes a bankruptcy every 30 seconds, and by the end of the year it could cause 1.5m Americans to lose their homes. In short, America’s health-care system is sick, and “there’s no easy formula” for fixing it.After the financial crisis, health reform is Mr Obama’s most urgent domestic priority. This week he named his second choice for health secretary (Kathleen Sebelius, the governor of Kansas) and was due to convene a health summit at the White House as The Economist went to press. His first choice for the health job, Tom Daschle, had clout on Capitol Hill and a mastery of health-care policy, but had not paid all his taxes and so had to drop out. ..." (2009-3-5)
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