VP Biden to make healthcare announcement:

[alsame]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

[femmocrat]

1. TY. It's not on TV (yet).

Hope it's good news.

[mikelgb]

2. ugh Bad News: Baucus will be there

[Kittycat]

5. Maybe under threat.

I read last night that he was whipped by Reid (almost unbelievable).

[drm604]

11. Do you have a link?

I'd love to read about that!

[drm604]

3. Any idea what time it starts? n/t

[alsame]

4. WH schedule said 10:30...he's running a little late. nt

[alsame]

6. Starting now. nt

[femmocrat]

7. MSNBC is covering it too. n/t

[Raine1967]

8. No Baucus...

[berni_mccoy]

10. There was a Senate Vote call just before the announcement. He had to go vote.

Biden explained this at the start.

[Muttocracy]

9. thanks K&R

[drm604]

12. Unless I missed something

there was nothing groundbreaking.

[femmocrat]

13. Did Sebelius even speak?

I stepped away while the hospital people were talking, and when I came back, it was all over.

What was the "big announcement"???

[alsame]

14. No, she didn't. I really didn't hear anything new - Biden talked

about the hospital participation and having reform be deficit neutral.

[Jennicut]

16. This is the deal that was reached. Whether the hospitals hold to it is another thing.

The nation's hospitals could see $155 billion less in Medicare reimbursement, in part because of a new reimbursement structure, and $50 billion less in federal disproportionate-share hospital dollars under a deal struck by a trio of hospital associations and OK'd by key members of the Senate and the White House.

All told, about $103 billion would come from a reduction in marketbasket updates and productivity adjustments over the next 10 years, according to a source who requested anonymity. In return, the deal would ensure that any public health plan option would pay more like a private payer rather than a government program. Additionally, the deal would also ban physician referrals to clinics or hospitals in which they have an ownership stake. Reductions to the so-called DSH payments would begin in 2015 and would be contingent on whether or not certain coverage goals are first met.
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The deal, expected to be announced on Wednesday, was struck between Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the White House and representatives from the American Hospital Association, the Federation of American Hospitals and the Catholic Health Association. http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20090707/REG/307079975

Plus, it involved Baucus.

[berni_mccoy]

15. This was a "We're close, but still working on it" statement

Reassuring that there will be the following:

- Public Option
- A Minimum of 95% of all Americans covered
- Lower cost healthcare for all

They also reiterated that the current system is
- Broken, and
- Must be changed