Hot Docs: Obama-McCain Swing State Polls, Soaring Health Insurance Premiums, and More

The Latest Battleground Poll Results: As the nation's financial crisis continues to unfold, the latest George Washington University Battleground Poll finds Barack Obama stretching out his lead over John McCain as the person best suited to create jobs and improve the economy. The poll shows Obama leading McCain 49 to 38 percent, up from the previous poll's tally of 47 to 39 percent. This comes as the economy has moved to the forefront. When pollsters asked respondents which issue was most important for Congress to work on, the economy and jobs jumped by 12 percentage points to 38 percent since the last Battleground Poll two weeks ago, dwarfing all other issues by at least 30 percentage points.

Employer Health Benefits 2008 Annual Survey: Families are paying a lot more for their health insurance than they were nine years ago, a Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust survey finds. Although the average health insurance premiums for single and family coverage increased only 5 percent from last year, average family premiums have soared 119 percent since 1999. Employee wages and inflation also grew over the same time period, 34 and 29 percent, respectively.

Paying for Demographic Shifts: Pension and Healthcare Scenarios to 2030: The World Economic Forum says that urgent action is needed to confront the strains an aging population will put on pension and healthcare systems. In a new report, "The Future of Pensions and Healthcare in a Rapidly Ageing World - Scenarios to 2030," the Forum found that individuals, employers, governments, healthcare providers, and financial institutions must find new ways to work together to sustain the systems.

Brookings: "Change" or Plus a Change? Pondering Presidential Politics and Policy After Bush: Those expecting big changes from the candidates for president might be well advised to dampen their expectations a bit. That's the conclusion of two government experts at the Brookings Institution. Pietro Nivola and Charles Jones believe that, barring an "unexpected crisis, a realigning election, or an exceptional display of executive prowess," promises to make over Washington will "most likely run afoul of old political realities."

Effects of Deployments on Spouses of Military Personnel: A study charting the effects of military deployments on the home front found that spouses tend to drop out of the workforce just prior to service members heading overseas. The report, "Effects of Deployments on Spouses of Military Personnel," found that the effect is greatest in families with children under the age of 6. The report, distributed by the Rand Corp. think tank, is part of the Pardee Rand Graduate School dissertation series.