Voting for the 2006 Medical Blog Awards is open; Managed Care Matters is up for Best Health Policy/Ethics Weblog.
There’s lots of competition; support the blog you like best.
Jan
9
Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
Category: Health Care Issues
Jan
8
“Regular” economic theory doesn’t apply to health care in this country. After much debate, some of it acrimonious, I decided it’s time to lay out my case.
Why? Well, over the next couple of years there’s going to be a growing discussion about health care coverage, universal access, cost containment, yadda yadda. With a whole lot of luck, some of it will be educated, informed, and thoughtful. And with an incredible amount of luck and hard work, we’ll actually reach a solution that works pretty well.
But, if we don’t start with a solid understanding of the underlying issues in health care, we’re dead before we start.
Jan
3
Among the health reform plans likely to be considered is an expansion of Medicare, allowing non-seniors to “buy in” to Medicare.
This is a bad idea.
Jan
2
Ezra Klein opines in his recent editorial in the LA Times that conditions are, if not ripe for a move towards universal coverage, at least we’re getting closer to harvest time.
A couple of (relatively) minor nits. Hospital profits are not exactly “skyrocketing”. Yes, they’re healthier than they have been of late, but low-single-digit margins are not even out of sight, much less out of the troposphere. Second, Ezra claims that the nation won’t countenance a continuation of today’s health care mess. I disagree – as one who said “we can’t take it anymore” ten years ago, I’ve been amazed by Americans’ ability to take it, at least when it comes to over-priced health care of mediocre quality.
Those points aside, Ezra’s inventory of environmental and political factors is compelling. There is no doubt that we are getting closer. There is also no doubt (at least in my mind) that Americans’ ability to tough it out, endure, and/or ignore this problem is akin to the legendary endurance of the Russian peasant.
Until and unless a plurality of major corporations, labor groups, and middle-class voters decides this is really important, it’s highly unlikely we will have a major move towards universal coverage in the next year or two.
Therefore, I’ll stick with my prediction of last year – we’ll have some form of universal coverage before 2011. And not too much before.
Jan
2
One of the better reviews of the current push for transparency in drug pricing was published by the Napa Valley Times (with assistance from the WSJ).
Dec
20
Bob Laszewski is one of the best-connected and most perceptive people on the national health care policy scene. He’s also a good friend. Bob recently joined the health blogging world and is posting at Health Policy and Marketplace Review.
Bob’s background is impressive – former head of two life and health insurers, founder of an international health policy advocacy group, consultant to Congressional committees and often cited on NPR, the McLaughlin Group, the NewsHour, and the Sunday morning news shows.
His most recent post is on health care cost trends, and the puzzling drop in health insurance premium increases. Well worth the read.
Dec
20
There is one significant blind spot in Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D OR) Healthy Americans Act – because the benefit plan is based on the one enjoyed by Congresspeople and Federal employees, it fails to consider that many Americans can’t afford the maximum out-of-pocket limit, while to others it is a mere pittance .
The problem with the FEHBP and Congressional plan is all those folks have jobs so they can afford deductibles. A lot of folks working at Walmart can’t. As presently constructed the plan looks a little, well, elitist.
The fix is simple.
Dec
14
Sen. Ron Wyden (D OR) has come up with a plan for health care that just might work. Wyden’s plan requires all Americans to purchase health insurance, prohibits medical underwriting, replaces Medicaid with private insurance, and funds the program by a combination of employer contributions, individual payments, and recaptured funds from the mishmash of programs that attempt to address cost-shifting and indigent care.
Those folks making less than the poverty level will not pay anything for their coverage, with graduated subsidies for those making from 1x the poverty level to 4x. There’s a lot more detail to the plan, which you can peruse at your leisure at Wyden’s site.
Dec
12
The body of knowledge concerning consumer directed health plans is increasing steadily, and unfortunately for advocates, it does not appear to include much in the way of good news.
Continue reading What’s really happening with consumer-directed health care
Dec
11
In what will come as no surprise to anyone, Congress will eliminate the pending cut in Medicare physician reimbursement. Not only that, but docs who agree to report certain data to CMS will actually get a 1.5% increase in reimbursement from the Feds.
If you listen very closely, you can almost hear the medical community’s resounding “yippee”.
The reasons docs are not exactly ecstatic about the news are two-fold.