NEWS TO END THE WEEK

Today’s NY Times is rich in news about health care.  The most optimistic news comes from the front of its Business Day section, in which Barry Meier reports that there is a movement afoot, spearheaded by House Democrats Henry Waxman, of California, and Frank Pallone, Jr., of New Jersey, to restore the right of patients to sue medical device manufacturers, and nullify the federal preemption doctrine that has long protected the same manufacturers from liability.

But also of interest is that in Washington, key policy makers in the health care industry have been meeting with Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s staff to discuss the implementation of a universal health care system that would make it obligatory for everyone to purchase health insurance.  As it has been in the past, the biggest bone of contention within the group is how to make it obligatory and affordabale at the same time.  NY Times reporter Robert Pear’s article suggests that the timing may be right for such a re-examination of how to institute such coverage, now that President Obama is in office.