Neil deMause: The Website

Geared toward small-business owners, but a worthwhile overview of coming legislation for the general public as well. I tackle health care, taxes, and credit cards:

Health care: Still on the critical list

Last year: The cost of providing health insurance to employees continued to skyrocket, jumping by an average of 5.7% per employee after a 6.1% hike in 2007, according to a study by consulting firm Mercer. A survey by the National Federation of Independent Businesses found that health care was the number-one concern of small business owners, prompting the NFIB to become a major backer of an advertising campaign calling on the presidential candidates to make health reform a priority.

This year: President-elect Obama has endorsed a sweeping reform plan that would create a new National Health Insurance Exchange to allow more businesses access to insurance pools…[read more]

The headline pretty much says it all: Obama’s and McCain’s health care proposals have gotten plenty of ink, but whatever health reform we get isn’t likely to look much like either once Congress gets done with it.

In his Democratic convention acceptance speech sixteen years ago, Bill Clinton declared that as one of the first initiatives of his administration, he would “take on the health care profiteers and make health care affordable for every family.”

Two years later, his “Health Security Act” was dead, never having gotten even as far as a vote in Congress.

Nearly two decades of soaring premiums and reduced coverage later, health care is again at the top of the reform agenda in Washington… [read more]