HWR – the back to school edition

Today, we’re leading with a quote from W, from a talk in DC October 28, 2003 …”As you know, these are open forums, you’re able to come and listen to what I have to say…”
That’s not what we do here at HWR

HillaryCare 2.0
The big news in health policy this fortnight is Sen. Clinton’s health care reform proposal. We’re starting off with Bob Laszewski’s contention that the Republicans Better Take it Seriously. Bob, who was there for Hillarycare 1.0, notes the Republicans would do well to get serious about health care. Instead of screeching about socialized medicine, Mitt, G, and the boys would do well to remember Bill Clinton won the presidency in part because he was a lot more serous about health care than his Republican opponent.
Ezra Klein has posted video of one of Sen. Clinton’s ads now airing in New Hampshire, which could have been placed by one of the we-hate-Hillary crowd.
It’s always helpful to hear what people actually in the insurance business think about this reform stuff – Louise discusses Hillary’s new health care plan and her ideas of an essential ingredient in a candidate’s health care plan – mandatory coverage.
Jon Cohn of The New Republic adds his thoughts on Hillary 2.0; while she could have chickened out and come out with a weak/partial ‘reform’ plan easy on insurers and pharma (who have been dumping buckets of cash into her campaign coffers), she didn’t.
Now on to a broader look at reform and issues related thereto
Chris Fleming’s post at HealthAffairs’ blog notes that covering the uninsured would likely increase the quality of care delivered to those who have insurance already. And he’s got the stats to make a solid case.
– Dr. K wonders why Ivy docs are so enamored with single payer, and hoots at their naivete; why would any physician think any savings in admin expense would go to increasing physician salaries?
Serendipitously, (Dr) DB is also focused on physician reimbursement – he opines that increasing reimbursement for primary care is something pols would be well-advised to consider in their sundry reform proposals.
A common misconception used to bludgeon reform advocates is the ‘wait time’ canard – my contribution is a quick debunk of the you’ll-die-before-your-MRI in Canada meme.
Insurance companies will only invest in preventative care if their enrollees stay with the company for an extended period of time, but annual enrollee turnover is over 20%. The Healthcare Economist aka Jason Shafrin analyzes a paper claiming that “search frictions” may explain this phenomenon.
Our good friends at the Cato Institute are always good for a raft of submissions to HWR, and among their contributions this time around is a commentary from David Boaz on his perspective on Cato-at-liberty » John Edwards’ Nurse Ratched Plan.
David’s colleague Michael Cannon thinks the debate on the S-CHIP program is misguided in his piece entitled“SCHIP Is Not Eroding Private Health Coverage” .
One of our newer HWR contributors is Brian Klepper, and he’s fast becoming a go-to-guy for fresh perspectives. BK doesn’t disappoint with his take on transparency – Health plans are aggressively promoting the idea that doctor and
hospital pricing/performance should be transparent, but what about health plan pricing/performance?
We’re double-dipping into the Healthcare Economist – Jason’s perspective is Britain’s NHS is getting a bit too big-brotherish; he presents No hip replacement for you, fatso!
On this side of the Atlantic our good bud Hank Stern has a similar concern . Hank and Bob of InsureBlog are none too confident in regulators and their control over state-mandated underwriting and pricing rules; Hank and Bob’s view is at States Gone Wild posted at InsureBlog, saying, “SUMMARY: “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.”
here’s a candidate for most-clicked-to from a brand-spanking-new contributor to HWR – “Sex & drugs scandal rocks Adopt-A-Doc program”. Yes, you can open this at the office…
Do this Do this Do this!
Take five seconds (10 if you go slow) and fill out Workers Comp Insider’s 4 Year Anniversary blog survey, if you haven’t already done so.
It’s anonymous and it’s very, very short!
Other cool stuff
Workers Comp Insider is the hoary old veteran of the blog world; guy-in-charge Tom Lynch notes they have just celebrated their 4th blog birthday, Jon Coppelman ruminates on “Why We Blog”, and Julie Ferguson links the blogs’s 20 most popular posts, which reflect some occupational issues that are front and foremost in the minds of readers and web searchers.
Massachusetts is currently debating whether to allow the opening of mini-clinics based in retail stores. Significant opposition has come from existing providers, but mini-clinic proponents have a solid comeback. David E. Williams knows of what he types – The role of retail clinics.
A leading candidate for ‘most erudite take on a topic only he could think of’ is long-time friend Richard Eskow, who is debating the science of dead pop stars over at ‘the sentinel effect’. Richard has found that Euro stars live longer than Americans, and posits an explanation.
Long-time HWR contributor and legal pro David Harlow presents The latest on never events and HAI from CMS, Leapfrog and MA DPH posted at HealthBlawg :: David Harlow’s Health Care Law Blog.
Dr Roy Poses (one of the most thoughtful bloggers in our little world) continues his focus on biotech, pharma, and their various ethical…er…lapses. This time around Roy takes on Genzyme – the large biotechnology company just settled a share-holders’ lawsuit alleging that the company used questionable tactics to buy back shares of a subsidiary at a bargain price. This is one of many stories of large health care organizations settling lawsuits amidst allegations of questionable, often unethical actions.
Two other very recent posts on Health Care Renewal were about Sanofi-Aventis settling a suit alleging it overcharged Medicare, and about two dialysis providers settling a suit by the FTC alleging restraint of competition. None of these stories included any penalties imposed on the organizations’ leaders, i.e., those presumably responsible for the conduct that lead to the settlement. In a world where pay for performance is all the rage, what about penalties for poor performance (by health care leaders)? And health care executives wonder why people don’t trust their companies, or them?
Envision Solutions, LLC and Trusted.MD Network have launched the second annual global survey of healthcare bloggers. The companies are producing this poll in order to shed additional light on why people blog about health-related subjects. The study will close on October 15.
And finally, another new contributor is Jimmy Atkinson who has come up with a great listing of 100 Web Resources for Medical Professionals | NOEDb posted at NOEDb: Nursing Online Education Database.
That’s it for this edition – tune in again in two weeks, when Jane Hiebert-Smith of Health Affairs assumes editorial responsibilities!