Impacts of Health Care Bill on Washington State

By Roger Stark, MD
Health Care Policy Analyst
January 2010

U.S. House and Senate Democrats have passed two sweeping 2,000 page bills that would fundamentally and dramatically change our health care. There are significant differences between the two bills, but the more moderate Senate bill has the best chance of passing through the conference committee and being signed by the President. Both bills passed on a strict party-line vote, with essentially no support from minority Republicans.

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Slade Gorton Weighs in on Intelligence Failures

Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) was a 9/11 Commission member.

This story was originally published on December 31, 2009.

Read excerpts of the interview with KOMO News here.

Obama’s Poll Numbers Continue Slide

Polls coming out in recent weeks have showed a decline in support for President Obama. He currently enjoys a 56% approval rating, but his negatives are up. His health care proposal has also seen a small decline in support.

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State of Health Care in the U.S.

Check out this article from the Times today.

Now, take a look at this.

The first article came to the Seattle Times via the St. Petersburg Times.

The second article came from the Washinton Policy Center.

Ms. Martin is a news reporter. Dr. Stark, in his capacity with the Washington Policy Center, is a healthcare opinion writer. Again, Ms. Martin is a news reporter, however, her piece probably shows a more pronounced ideological slant. Go figure.

Obama’s Tax Plan Draws Stiff Opposition

In a story earlier this month from Bloomberg News, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer came out strongly opposed to a new corporate tax plan President Obama proposed.  

For many leading American firms who do business overseas, Obama’s plan to eliminate the deferral of taxes on foreign profits could increase costs and cut into profits by as much as 10 to 15 percentage points.  Bloomberg reported:

…Ballmer, Symantec Chairman John Thompson and the heads of smaller companies such as privately held Bentley Systems, an Exton, Pa.-based maker of engineering software, said such policies would hurt domestic investment, reduce shareholder value and increase the cost of employing U.S. workers.

Ballmer said the deduction limits for companies that defer tax on foreign profits would raise the cost of employing U.S. workers. Fiduciary responsibility to shareholders would require Microsoft to cut costs, he said, meaning many jobs would be moved out of the country.

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