This morning, eleven freshman Senators introduced a series of health care reform amendments which they call the Value and Innovation Package (thanks New Health Dialogue for pointing this out). These amendments would be designed to strengthen the cost control measures in the current bill, with an eye toward bending the health care cost curve. Among the more promising amendments include:

Citizens from across the country had a message yesterday for lawmakers: we are working together to solve our fiscal challenges, why can’t you?

Here are the highlights from this weekend’s editorials on fiscal and budget policy:

A number of very interesting and relevant government reports have come out this week. Check them out:

A group of budget experts including CRFB president, Maya MacGuineas, released a “Statement on Health Care Reform,” calling for further efforts to reduce health care costs as part of reform.

Today, federal COBRA subsidies that help unemployed workers purchase health insurance from their former employers begin expiring. February’s stimulus bill provided 9 months in federal assistance, with the government paying 65 percent of a worker’s health insurance extension.

Under the Senate health care reform bill the average American will pay about the same for insurance as he or she pays now, the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation reported yesterday. Supporters of health care reform are hopeful that these findings will reassure moderate Senators who are concerned about cost increases.

Here are the highlights from this weekend’s editorials on fiscal and budget policy:

The New England Journal of Medicine, last week, had an article by four RAND researchers on Controlling U.S. Health Care Spending. Using Massachusetts as a model to measure national effects, the authors estimated the potential range of impact for eight items. Of them, bundling payments appears to have the most promise, with savings potential of between 0.1% and 5.4%.

UPDATE: CHARTS AUTOMATICALLY UPDATE AS NEWER LEGISLATION IS PUT FORWARD. CURRENTLY, THEY REFLECT THE MANAGER'S AMENDMENT TO THE SENATE BILL.

Today, US BudgetWatch updated its Charts Comparing Health Care Reform Bills. The publication compares the House and Senate health care bills through two text charts and four graphs, all exploring different metrics.

Here at The Bottom Line, we have republished the graphs in a way that makes them both interactive and sharable. That means you can explore the charts here, or feature them on your own website or blog.