Washington Dems are still grinding out a deal on the health-care bill; here’s coverage from the WSJ, New York Times and Los Angeles Times on yesterday’s meeting between congressional leaders and President Obama.
Meanwhile, the WSJ’s David Wessel writes today in his Capital column that Medicare Part D — the prescription drug program launched a few years back — offers some useful lessons for the current debate.
The program has shown that you can drive widespread coverage by enlisting private insurers to administer a public plan — something that sounds a lot like the insurance exchanges proposed under the health-care bills. But there are a few twists.
Under Medicare Part D, seniors choose from dozens of privately administered plans. Research shows that they don’t typically choose the one that’s the best deal for them, because they overrate the importance of premiums and underrate the importance of out-of-pocket spending. That’s a reminder that elaborate cost-sharing formulas aren’t always as efficient in the real world as economists might hope.
Widespread drug coverage has led seniors to use more prescription drugs. No surprise there, but it’s a reminder that increased health insurance coverage is likely to lead to more people seeking health care, which may strain the system. (Finding a doctor could be particularly tough for Medicaid patients, as we noted yesterday.)
One big surprise in the Medicare drug benefit: It’s been far cheaper than the CBO predicted. The initial price tag was $640 billion over 10 years, and now it’s down to $410 billion. That suggests that not everything in health care proves more expensive than expected. At the same time, plans to close the Medicare “doughnut hole” are a reminder that entitlements tend to expand over time, a former CBO chief told Wessel.
Image: iStockphoto
We’re rolling two separate announcements into one post, if you don’t mind. 
Translation and dictionary software maker 
Strangely enough, I saw this, and my first thought was “hmmm, can he rewind the tapes with his tongue.” Then I wondered how to escape from a man who can eat your head in one chomp. [
The Federal Communications Commission says it will need another month to deliver its national broadband plan. The deadline to originally submit the plan to the U.S. Congress was Feb. 17. The FCC has been using stimulus funds and has hired many consultants to put together a plan that looks at getting affordable broadband to all Americans. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, 
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, but a former senior marketing manager at Apple posted an article today “confirming” that the company does indeed purposely leak information in order to amplify the buzz surrounding an upcoming product, or for any number of other reasons. The ex-Apple employee in question, John Martellaro, wrote about the process in an article on 
While a little bit off-topic, we felt compared to share this bit of news with our readers. The rumors of HTC putting out their own handset running Brew have come to fruition. We just received an email from HTC’s PR company advising of the newly announced HTC Smart, a new type of smartphone running Qualcomm’s Brew MP platform. 
After the previously-announced 1956 Jaguar D-Type, auction house Gooding & Company revealed another rare Jaguar which is going to be put up for grabs at the upcoming two-day auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, after the previously-announced 1956 Jaguar D-Type. This time the announcement concerns a 1959 Costin Lister Jaguar Sports Racer (BHL 123), still in race-ready condition.
The Illinois State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management (ISC-SHRM) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) today announced a new awards program that recognizes employers who champion the health of their employees and strive to create a work culture that promotes physical activity.