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Electronic Health Records For The U.S. Difficult To Do, But Could Pay Off

"Creating an electronic health record for every American by 2014 is a big part of Obama"s agenda but it may be easier said than done," CNN Money reports. "For one, the cost can be prohibitive - easily running into the tens of millions of dollars. Getting physicians on board can be challenging. And the sheer magnitude of implementing the technology can be overwhelmingly cumbersome - translation: try creating a system for a hospital that serves 600,000 patients." The ambitious idea is to eventually create a network between hospitals and doctors offices all across the nation (Goldman, 7/31).

Paying For Health Care Overhaul May Fall Unevenly On States

"Some of the "bluest" states that propelled Obama into the White House are among those most likely to pay more in taxes to fund expanded health insurance coverage and make other changes to the system, analysts say," The Los Angeles Times reports. "People in states such as Illinois, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York have a higher share of wealthier taxpayers and residents who get generous healthcare plans through work -- and both sets of people may be tapped to raise money for the healthcare overhaul. Moreover, those states have less to gain from a national effort to expand health insurance coverage because their residents already are more likely to have insurance than are Americans as a whole. Those conclusions by a range of policy analysts may point to future tension in the healthcare debate: Though battle lines so far have been drawn largely in partisan terms, lurking regional divisions could fracture Congress even further."