Senate Republicans want to fast-track an amendment that repeals a portion of the new healthcare reform law. Whether or not they will be able to accomplish this is another question.
Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) has proposed legislation to rescind a provision in the new law that requires businesses to report purchases of $600 or more to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Business lobbyists such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) both support the legislation. Republicans want to attach the repeal provision to a broader bill intended to help small businesses. According to the Chamber and the NFIB, the provision places a burdensome obligation on the nation’s 40 million small businesses. Under this provision of the healthcare reform bill, businesses are required to file an IRS 1099 form for non-credit card purchases totaling $600 or more. Johanns says that rule is “overly burdensome.”
To make up for the $17 billion that the provision would raise, Johanns has proposed reducing the individual mandate threshold and defer $16 billion in funding for wellness programs. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and other Republicans have introduced legislation that would kill the Independent Payment Advisory Board that the healthcare reform law created. Democratic Senators who wrote the legislation counter that the board is needed to reduce consistently increasing healthcare costs.
Americans are aging and living longer than ever, according to a report entitled “Older Americans 2010: Key Indicators of Well-Being” compiled by 15 federal agencies.
Healthcare coverage for uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions won’t come cheaply. Premiums in the new “high-risk” pool could average $300 to $600 a month in certain states, according to a new government website. 
A prime example of why access to quality healthcare needs to be expanded is an ambitious effort to hold an enormous, free medical event in Chicago. 
The term “bored to death” might not be too far from the truth.
There’s one element of healthcare reform legislation on which many liberals and conservatives agree – the mandate. Both the Senate and House versions of the healthcare reform bill contain a mandate requiring that all Americans be insured – whether it is through their job, the government or the private market.
Democrats in the House and Senate are trying to strip the insurance industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws, 
I once asked legendary healthcare publisher and speaker Chuck Lauer who the most inspiring figure he met in healthcare was. He answered Eddie Eckenhoff. It’s easy to see why.
