Health Care Reform: Change We Can Count On?

At President Obama’s urging, Democratic congressional leaders made considerable progress this week in reworking the nation’s health care system. On Tuesday, the House unveiled its health care reform bill and yesterday the Senate got its plan through committee. Both plans guarantee insurance for most Americans. They would raise taxes on high-income people while providing subsidies to Americans at moderate to low income levels. Both plans would also penalize employers who do not provide health benefits to their workers.

We turn to Trudy Lieberman for her take on what we could actually end up with. She is the director of the health and medicine reporting program at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism and she is a longtime contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review. We’ll also hear from medical leaders Dr. Herbert Pardes, President and CEO of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital,and Dr. Michael Pramenko. Dr. Pramenko is a family physician. He also serves on the Colorado Medical Society’s Congress for Health Care Reform. We also hear from Michael Fredrich. He is the president of MCM Composites LLCs, who as a small business owner has struggled to provide health care to his employees.