The Health Care Blog

MN lawmakers pass bill to ban sharing info on medical debt

By Eric Novack Perhaps this should be applied to groceries, utility bills, clothing, and, of course, housing… Oh, wait, that is what the mortgage lending industry was doing for several years.
May 6, 2008 in Eric Novack, Hospitals | Permalink | Comments (2)

The (Non)-Profit Motive

By Eric Novack From today's Wall Street Journal: "Nonprofit Hospitals, Once For the Poor, Strike it Rich." It has long, and often, been argued here on THCB and so many other places, that if we simply ‘take the profit motive...
April 4, 2008 in Economics, Eric Novack | Permalink | Comments (17)

THCB readers will not be surprised ...

By Eric Novack Cancer patients covered only by Medicare face problems getting chemotherapy ... Massachusetts Health Plan underfunded
March 26, 2008 in Eric Novack | Permalink | Comments (7)

A Different Right to Privacy

By Eric Novack Given Matthew's quite visceral response to some complaints that broad-based, government-encouraged (mandated, I suspect), electronic medical records I am interested in both his and THCB readers' thoughts on the Bangor Daily News editorial staff's approach to health...
March 19, 2008 in Electronic Medical Records, Eric Novack, Privacy | Permalink | Comments (9)

Monday Freedom Watch

By Eric Novack From Canada: “Liberty - hostage to medicare” “The Ontario Superior Court on Thursday rejected a Sikh man's claim to a religious-freedom exemption from the province's law on mandatory motorcycle helmets. Supporters of safety as the holiest of...
March 10, 2008 in Eric Novack | Permalink | Comments (3)

Where will all the employees go? By Eric Novack

A quick question: With calls for a substantial increase in government involvement in health care by so many—and, among the major justifications is the claim of high administrative overhead in the private sector relative to government—what do the proposals plan...
February 18, 2008 in Eric Novack, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (15)

Bill would make it illegal to feed the obese by Eric Novack

Really. From USA Today: Three legislators want to make it illegal for restaurants to serve obese customers in Mississippi. House Bill No. 282, which was introduced this month, says: Any food establishment to which this section applies shall not be...
February 2, 2008 in Eric Novack, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (4)

'Health Care That's Always There'. Really? by Eric Novack

We haven't heard from our favorite orthopedic surgeon in a while but Eric Novack is back to change the world...or at least express his annoyance at some people in it! I suspect that we'll be hearing lots of arguments like...
February 2, 2008 in Eric Novack, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (5)

Health IT breakthrough possible in Washington by Eric Novack

Unnamed senior officials at CMS confidentially report that serious bipartisan discussions are ongoing to help get the Health IT bill completed. “Electronic medical records and e-prescribing, if mandated throughout the country, would save thousands of American lives each year”, one...
December 13, 2007 in Eric Novack | Permalink | Comments (10)

The Massachusetts Plan: What did they know, and when did they know it? by Eric Novack

Dateline, Boston… According to an article in the Sunday,November 18th, 2007, Boston Globe, “(Massachusetts) the state could face a funding gap as large as $147 million by the end of the fiscal year, according to a state projection.” 2009 looks...
November 20, 2007 in Eric Novack | Permalink | Comments (6)

Think Again: Payments to doctors By Eric Novack

I am frankly a bit surprised at the lack of comment at THCB on the recent orthopedic device manufacturers’ settlement with the government for concerns about illegal payments to physicians. I would have expected Matthew or Maggie, at least, to...
November 16, 2007 in Eric Novack, Medical Devices | Permalink | Comments (8)

SCHIP: Care Enough to Smoke? by Eric Novack

Given Matthew’s crazy schedule as he builds his Health 2.0 empire, a brief note on the resounding defeat of the Oregon initiative with tobacco tax money. What this means for the debate in Washington is uncertain. Pundits on the left...
November 12, 2007 in Eric Novack | Permalink | Comments (6)

POLITICS: Forgotten children and unopened bills By Eric Novack

On October 18th, the US House of Representatives will try to override the President’s veto of a greatly expanded State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). As is so often the case, political rhetoric serves as a fog that obscures what...
October 12, 2007 in Eric Novack | Permalink | Comments (8)

POLICY: Market forces driving down drug prices by Eric Novack

A tiny step, but what if more of healthcare was freed from excessive regulation? Of course, this is being done purely because the Medicare Part D program is driving small pharmacies out of existence …
August 7, 2007 in Eric Novack, Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

INDUSTRY: Medical Bankruptcy Rate Disputedby Eric Novack

For those who remember the endless headlines of "50% of All Bankruptcies Due to Medical Debt", and particularly for those who have based many calls for national, single-payer health care, on that paper by Single-payer zealot David Himmelstein, here is...
July 18, 2007 in Eric Novack, Policy | Permalink | Comments (10)

POLICY: Eric Novack responds

Here is a fundamental problem with the debate that Matthew is having with Amy Ridenour and David Hogberg: Matthew (and single payer advocates generally) focuses his attacks on the general ‘injustice’ that might exist in the healthcare system. In the...
May 21, 2007 in Eric Novack, Policy | Permalink | Comments (10)

POLICY: Debating the Quality of VA Care By Eric Novack

The many commenters and contributors to THCB who have been touting the VA as the pinnacle of US health care—and basing their conclusion that what we need is not ‘Medicare for All’, but rather ‘VA Care for All’—have some explaining...
May 11, 2007 in Eric Novack, Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

POLICY: Freedom of Choice, Good for Education - Good for Healthcare By Eric Novack

Proponents of Sheila Kuehl’s ‘Single Payer’ health plan for California like to lead with the argument that ‘Everybody in, nobody out’ is a good thing. Of course, many of the same interest groups (ie. powerful lobbying organizations in California) are...
May 11, 2007 in Eric Novack, Policy | Permalink | Comments (2)

POLICY: Is Healthcare a right? By Eric Novack

Food for thought for the weekend… and beyond. Should the immoral in the rest of the business world be trumped by the needs of some people? Would it be ethical for an employer to require overtime and not pay employees...
March 31, 2007 in Eric Novack, Physicians | Permalink | Comments (19)

POLICY: Massachusetts Update By Eric Novack

I must admit when I am wrong. My repeated claims that the Massachusetts Health Plan would be on life support—with a likely ‘pulling of the plug’—by early 2008 have been proven wrong.It has happened already.
March 27, 2007 in Eric Novack | Permalink | Comments (11)

HOSPITALS: VA perfection revisited By Eric Novack

THCB contributor Dr. Eric Novack has been following the unfolding scandal at Walter Reed Medical Center very closely. Eric feels the problems discovered by the Washington Post are indicative of deeper institutional problems at the VA. And deeper problems with...
March 5, 2007 in Eric Novack, Hospitals | Permalink | Comments (16)

POLICY: Underfunded? By Eric Novack

Governors from around the country are in Washington D.C.this week for the annual meeting of the National Governors Association. One of the main bones of contention at this years' meetings has been the expansion of federal funding for state SCHIP...
February 27, 2007 in Eric Novack, Policy | Permalink | Comments (14)