JustinC: March 2010 Archives

Congress completed its work Thursday night on the broadest social legislation in almost a half-century, as the House capped the yearlong legislative saga over health reform by signing off on a package of fixes to the newly minted law.

In the end, the titanic battle over remaking the American health care system drew to a close on a pair of votes drained of suspense -- after the Senate approved the cleanup bill earlier Thursday. The House approved the same bill, 220 to 207.

The votes deliver twin victories to President Barack Obama, the health care overhaul on which he staked the first year of his presidency and a lesser-noticed provision that would carry out a major restructuring of the student loan industry.

While Democrats may yet enact health care reform via a convoluted process that involves passing three separate bills, many people may wonder, "What happened to the postpartisan era?" Both President Obama's 11th-hour meeting with Republicans and the Republican leaders' demands to "start over" are recognized by Americans for what they are -- political talk substituting for bipartisan legislation.

As health policy adviser for Senator Olympia Snowe, the Maine Republican, while Congress considered this most critical and complicated issue, I saw firsthand how a failure to recognize the magnitude of the task, and a toxic political environment, undermined the effort to achieve reform.

Should affluent Americans have to pay Medicare payroll tax on their investment income? 

President Barack Obama, to help pay for his health care overhaul package, is proposing that high-income Americans pay Medicare taxes on the money they make on their investments. Historically, only earned income has been subject to that tax. He also wants to increase the Medicare tax rate on wealthy Americans' wages.

President Barack Obama, to help pay for his health care overhaul package, is proposing that high-income Americans pay Medicare taxes on the money they make on their investments. Historically, only earned income has been subject to that tax. He also wants to increase the Medicare tax rate on wealthy Americans' wages.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett advised President Barack Obama on Monday to scrap the health care bill and start over.

In an interview with CNBC, Buffett said the current bill does not focus on controlling costs, which he sees as the central problem that must be addressed to reform the system. He added that while he does not like the Senate bill, he'd vote for it in preference to doing nothing.

"What we have now is untenable over time," said Buffett, an early supporter of Obama's candidacy. "That kind of a cost compared to the rest of the world is really like a tapeworm eating, you know, at our economic body."