The national debate around healthcare has intensified in the 2012 elections. The issue is front and center in national, state and local political conversations. But amid the rhetoric, the soundbites, and the spin, many of the realities of healthcare and truths about reform are lost along the campaign trail. In response to these concerns, MedTech Media's leading healthcare publications, Healthcare IT News, Healthcare Finance News and Government Health IT, are deciphering the political doublespeak and asking the questions our readers find most pertinent – about politicians, healthcare policies and delivery system reform at the federal, state, and local levels.

NEWS
ELECTION FEATURES
DATA
BLOGS
TWEETS
 
Healthcare industry reacts to President Obama's reelection
Healthcare industry stakeholders reacted quickly to President Barack Obama's victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Healthcare Finance News shares some of the comments it has received.
More
Comment count: Comments: (3)
Post date: November 7, 2012
Rene Letourneau
News
President Obama wins reelection; challenges still loom for ACA
Despite President Barack Obama's victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney, a significant amount of work must be accomplished in the next four years to ensure that the next president cannot uproot the ACA via "repeal and replace."
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: November 7, 2012
Tom Sullivan
News
President's win is reprieve for 'Obamacare'
President Barack Obama's victory cements the Affordable Care Act, expanding coverage to millions but leaving weighty questions about how to pay for it and other care to be delivered to an increasingly unhealthy, aging population.
More
Comment count: Comments: (1)
Post date: November 7, 2012
Jay Hancock
News
October employment numbers reflect slow, steady growth
The monthly jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning shows the country is advancing steadily but slowly on the jobs front, and the healthcare sector continues to be one of the markets showing regular growth.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: November 2, 2012
Stephanie Bouchard
News
Romney takes a swipe at ACA in third presidential debate
To the surprise of some, healthcare wound its way into Monday night's debate -- though the matter only garnered a brief mention by GOP nominee Mitt Romney, who said he would repeal the act as a way to balance the budget.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: October 23, 2012
Tom Sullivan
News
ACA polarizes voters despite lack of understanding of legislation
The Affordable Care Act has polarized Republicans and Democrats despite the fact that many voters cannot explain the healthcare reform legislation to any significant degree, said Robert Blendon, ScD, professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health during a speech to the Massachusetts Medical Society on Oct. 18.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: October 22, 2012
Rene Letourneau
News
Healthcare plays small role in second presidential debate
Although none of the undecided voters asked either President Barack Obama or GOP nominee Mitt Romney about healthcare specifically, the debaters made brief mention of it in the second presidential debate Tuesday night.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: October 17, 2012
Tom Sullivan
News
VP debate continues trend of confusing healthcare reform fact and fiction
The vice presidential debate contained much of the same fact twisting that has sculpted health reform rhetoric on the campaign trail -- the notion that Medicare and Medicaid are teetering on bankruptcy, the voucher plan, the phrase "death panel" and that pesky $716 billion figure.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: October 12, 2012
Tom Sullivan
News
Healthcare reform causes sparks during presidential debate
While short on tangible insights about either candidate's vision for healthcare, Wednesday night's presidential debate was filled with barbs and twisted facts about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: October 4, 2012
Tom Sullivan
News
Q&A: Michael Grunwald talks about the impact of the ARRA
Healthcare IT News Managing Editor Mike Milliard spoke recently with TIME magazine correspondent Michael Grunwald about his book, "The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era" and about the lasting impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: October 1, 2012
Mike Miliard
News
Polls reveal Americans' opinions on ACA, Medicare reform
While pollsters are busy this week predicting the outcome of our next presidential election, a pair of surveys looked at how healthcare might fare - and a few surprises emerged.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: September 27, 2012
Tom Sullivan
News
Polls examine how healthcare could affect the presidential election
A trio of recent surveys examines how Americans feel about healthcare and how the issue might impact the presidential election.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: September 24, 2012
Tom Sullivan
News
Standard political campaign ploys won't have impact when it comes to healthcare
Some standard political campaign ploys are not going to cut it this campaign season say campaign watchers -- at least when coupled with the issue of healthcare.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: July 6, 2012
Stephanie Bouchard
News
Small number of swing voters to determine outcome of presidential election
The 2012 presidential election will be determined by a handful of voters in a handful of states, Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report told an audience of healthcare real estate professionals at BOMA International's Medical Office Buildings & Healthcare Facilities Conference in Atlanta on Thursday.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: May 3, 2012
Rene Letourneau
News
Why Romneycare still haunts Mitt
The candidates are still going at it. For frontrunner Mitt Romney, the biggest challenge of the Republican presidential primaries seems to be the direct similarities between his own Massachusetts healthcare law, and the Affordable Care Act, spearheaded by President Obama.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: April 4, 2012
Kelly Mehler
Blog
Politicians obscure facts, impact Americans' views on healthcare reform
Politicians commonly obscure facts about healthcare reform as they battle through election campaigns. Government Health IT Editor Tom Sullivan takes a close look at how these distortions affect Americans' views on reform.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: January 30, 2012
Tom Sullivan
News

Reader Polling

The candidates' views on healthcare policy have come into play many times during the election. Healthcare Finance News asked readers if they think the government should have a dominant role in shaping the future of healthcare. Here's what they said.

Forty-two percent of respondents said the chaotic healthcare market needs government regulation, while 33 percent said a free market would improve healthcare on its own.
The date range of the survey was September 13, 2012 to October 4, 2012.

Healthcare Finance News polled its readers to see if they will take President Obama’s and Mitt Romney’s healthcare policy histories into account when voting. Here are the results.

See below for more reader polling:

Survey Analysis: ACA and the election

Survey Analysis: Ryan right choice for Romney

Infographic: Obamaneycare

How similar are President Obama's and Republican nominee Mitt Romney's two versions of mandated health insurance coverage? Check out this infographic to see where the policies overlap and diverge.

[See also: Obamaneycare: Trotskyite takeover or big company bail out?.]

Click image to enlarge.

Obamaneycare Infographic

Obama Administration's proposed FY 2014 budget includes $401 billion in health program savings
Yesterday, the Obama Administration released its proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2014. As widely reported, the budget incorporates an offer the President made to Congress in December 2012 to achieve nearly $1.8 trillion in additional deficit reduction over the next 10 years.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: April 11, 2013
Debra A. McCurdy
Blog
Health reform after the election: ACOs and population health
Much has been written and said about the effect of the election on the implementation of federal health reform initiatives.
More
Comment count: Comments: (1)
Post date: November 13, 2012
David Harlow
Blog
Following the French on Alzheimer's care
Looking for a way to send ObamaCare foes into a tizzy? Try suggesting emulating the French system. In any way.
More
Comment count: Comments: (1)
Post date: October 23, 2012
David Williams
Blog
Who cares what Romney proposes on Medicare?
Why does anyone really care about what Mitt Romney says about Medicare?
More
Comment count: Comments: (1)
Post date: October 8, 2012
David Williams
Blog
Romney-Ryan Medicare plan vs. Obama Medicare plan: Who's telling the truth?
They both are and they both aren’t. I’ve never seen a week in healthcare policy like last week. The media reports have to be in the thousands, all trying to make sense of the furious debate between Obama and Romney over Medicare.
More
Comment count: Comments: (2)
Post date: August 24, 2012
Robert Laszewski
Blog
Wyden and Ryan: One is up and the other is down
Republican Vice Presidential pick Paul Ryan isn’t the only one Democrats are piling on this week. The knives have come out for Senator Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: August 16, 2012
Robert Laszewski
Blog
Ready for a substantive debate on Medicare?
I’d like to think that the selection of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s vice presidential candidate could lead to a substantive, adult debate on Medicare for the general election.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: August 14, 2012
David Williams
Blog
Is this 31st House vote to repeal ACA merely symbolic?
Republicans say "no." At least one is calling for a Senate vote to follow. Democrats, however, are asking why vote again, particularly now that the Supreme Court upheld the ACA as constitutional.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: July 11, 2012
Tom Sullivan
Blog
Is SCOTUS ruling good or bad for Obama?
While one survey found a slight uptick in the popularity of Obamacare since the Supreme Court handed down its ruling on the Affordable Care Act, the larger question pertains to whether or not the legislative victory will help President Obama in the long-run, and that jury is still out.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: July 3, 2012
Tom Sullivan
Blog
Political implications of the Supreme Court decision on health reform
Chief Justice Roberts is very smart, and quite possibly pretty sly as well. I have been reading through the Supreme Court's landmark decision on health reform (which like many others, I predicted wrongly).
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: July 2, 2012
Brian Ahier
Blog
Is the GOP ready for a substantive debate on health reform?
There’s a good debate still to be held in this country on health reform, but only if the Republicans step up to the plate with serious ideas. I’m not that optimistic, but am not giving up hope yet.
More
Comment count: Comments: (0)
Post date: June 20, 2012
David Williams
Blog
How the repeal of ACA could affect the uninsured
A decay in access to medical services for American adults could continue even if President Obama is re-elected in November, according to a recent Health Affairs study.
More
Comment count: Comments: (1)
Post date: May 9, 2012
Kelly Mehler
Blog