More coverage of the Supreme Court's decision on the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) with Paul Starr, professor of sociology at Princeton University, co-founder of The American Prospect, and a senior health policy advisor under President Bill Clinton. Then Tom Perriello, former Congressman (who voted for the ACA) and President of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, discusses the progressive response to the decision, how Congress goes forward from here, and the impact on the Fall election.

Yesterday, UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer, announced that it would keep in place several consumer provisions mandated by the 2010 affordable care act, regardless of whether the statue is upheld by the Supreme Court. Is the company’s plan incredibly generous? Will it change the healthcare playing field?

Everywhere you turn in Washington, there are budget battles. Democrats and Republicans are negotiating the 2011 budget in hopes of avoiding a government shutdown this Friday; the 2012 budget is still in the air; and the Congressional Budget Office, under the leadership of Paul Ryan (R-WI), has offered a proposal that looks to shave $6 billion from the federal budget - including big changes to Medicaid and Medicare. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) discusses the negotiation on the hill; and John Heilemann, national affairs editor for New York Magazine; Paul Starr, professor of public policy at Princeton; and Ed Haislmaier, health policy researcher at the Heritage Foundation discuss the Ryan proposal.

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Paul Starr, professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, co-founder of The American Prospect, and a senior health policy advisor under President Bill Clinton, discusses the appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, and where health reform measures stand today.

Over the weekend Senate Democrats reached an agreement on health care reform. Paul Starr former senior adviser for President Clinton's proposed health care reform plan, discusses what's in and what's out.

A late-night deal in Washington has Democrats hopeful they can move the health care bill ahead, but pit will likely come at the expense of a full-fledged public option. Politico Capitol Hill reporter Glenn Thrush has the deal-making details; and former Clinton health care adviser Paul Starr offers his take.

Former senior advisor for President Clinton's proposed health care reform plan, co-founder of The American Prospect, and current professor of Sociology at Princeton Paul Starr discusses this year's health care reform efforts.

Senate Democrats unveiled their health care bill [pdf, 2.5mb] yesterday - a massive tome of more than two thousand pages that the non-partisan CBO estimates will cost $849 billion over ten years. That's below the limit of $900 billion that President Obama set - and a figure that would actually decrease the deficit. Drafters of the bill patted themselves on the back during an evening press converence yesterday, breaking into laughter when Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) flahed the "V" for victory sign. But the wrangling and political horse-trading aren't over yet, and that "V" may yet prove premature. Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich says fights over abortion and the "public option" just aren't going away. Paul Starr is a veteran of these kind of debates. He is currently a professor of sociology and public policy at Princeton University, and was a senior health policy advisor in the Clinton White House. He wrote the book "The Social Transformation of American Medicine." Starr weighs in on whether the massive bill can slow the rise in health care spending or whether that goal is simply a pipe dream.

It has been a long, arduous summer for Democrats pushing health care reform. Despite this summer's shouting campaign at town halls and President Obama’s falling approval rating – which recently dropped to 50% – the White House is expected to press on with more aggressive health care reform efforts. Politico.com reports that President Obama will lay out his specific demands for health care legislation as early as next week, when lawmakers return to Washington. Can Obama get a bill back on track to be passed this year? We speak with Politico reporter Alex Burns and Paul Starr, a senior health policy adviser in the Clinton White House and author of the Pulitzer-Prize winning book, The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The rise of a sovereign profession and the making of a vast industry.

President Obama is hitting the airways tonight to sell his health care reform plan. The Takaway's man in Washington, Todd Zwillich, gives us the behind the scenes report. We then turn to Paul Starr, professor of sociology and public policy at Princeton, to explain the history of presidential attempts to change the American health care system. Mr. Starr was a senior health policy adviser in the Clinton White House and is author of the Pulitzer-Prize winning book The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The rise of a sovereign profession and the making of a vast industry.

Stephen Engelberg, managing editor of ProPublica, Paul Starr, professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University & co-editor of The American Prospect, Richard Pérez Peña, New York Times reporter, and Eric Boehlert, senior fellow at Media Matters for America, and the author of the ...