The Health Care Blog

Healthy Americans Act could be the place of compromise for health reform in 2008

By Robert Laszewski Health care reform will be hard to do after the November election. I've even called it a long-shot. Polls clearly show the voters split evenly between the Democratic and Republican approach to health care reform. I can't...
May 8, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics, Robert Laszewski | Permalink | Comments (6)

Health 2.0 Consciousness Dawns - Even In Jacksonville, FL!

by BRIAN KLEPPER Next Thursday, Matthew, Michael Millenson and I are converging at a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation conference on public reporting of health care pricing/performance information in Amelia Island, FL, three short barrier islands north of my home in...
May 8, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Economics, Health 2.0, Health Plans, Hospitals, Policy, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (1)

Marrying for health care

By Sarah Arnquist About 7 percent of Americans recently reported in new Kaiser Health Tracking Poll that someone in their household got married so they could get health benefits. While 7 percent may be a bit high, I have no...
May 5, 2008 in Economics, Policy | Permalink | Comments (3)

The bizzaro world of McCain's health care politics

By Matthew Holt I sometimes write two different versions of pieces, one for you wonks at THCB and one for the more general crowd at Spot-on. Well to be more accurate I write one version which gets edited heavily over...
May 2, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (3)

McCain starting to talk about health care

This morning John McCain’s team will be talking about health care. There are some interesting ideas in McCain’s plan, which is the Bush tax deduction idea morphed into a tax credit, plus changes in Medicare payments. The best quick explanation...
April 29, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (8)

An Open Response To HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt - Brian Klepper and Michael Millenson

By Brian Klepper and Michael Millenson A few months ago, the two of us – both long-time advocates for transparency and accountability – posted separate comments on Secretary Mike Leavitt’s blog. Brian asked Secretary Leavitt to square his support of...
April 22, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0, Physician Rating, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quoteable

By THCB Staff We asked THCB contributor Maggie Mahar for her quick take on the health care policies of each of the presidential candidates. We were pretty much expecting one of Maggie's trademarked dissertations - a meticulously researched critique of...
April 20, 2008 in Maggie Mahar, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (2)

You’ve Gotta Spend Money to Save Money ...

By Eric Novack Or so the thought is by many in the health care world. Thus, the motivation for chronic care management programs was born. CMS, the august government body charged with overseeing Medicare (and Medicaid), instituted a 3 year,...
April 7, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (5)

Which way to go for health reform? From Birkenstocks to pom-poms

By Sarah Arnquist The methods proposed to clean up the health care mess in the United States that leading voices pitched to hundreds of journalists Friday unsurprisingly were as varied as their Birkenstocks and patriotic tie. David Himmelstein, co-founder of...
March 31, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (1)

Loving Our Children

By Brian Klepper Among its many less-noticed accomplishments, this Administration has strangled funding for comprehensive sex education. Instead, it has thrown the immense weight of the US government behind abstinence-based education, an impractical ideological approach rooted in religious zealotry and...
March 14, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Patient Safety, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Myth of Health Care Consumerism

By Brian Klepper Last weekend I heard several great presentations at a meeting convened by Jeff Goldsmith, but one contained a point I hadn't heard nailed down before. Kaveh Safavi MD JD, from Thomson Healthcare's Center for Healthcare Improvement, detailed...
March 13, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Economics, Health 2.0, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (21)

HEALTH 2.0: Getting the PHR, Privacy and Deborah Peel issue off my chest

By Matthew Holt I’m a card carrying member of the ACLU. I oppose the Patriot Act. And I absolutely oppose the current Administration's decision to ignore the FISA law that already bends over backwards to help the government spy on...
March 13, 2008 in Health 2.0, Policy, Policy/Politics, Privacy, Technology | Permalink | Comments (9)

TECH: Interview with Newt Gingrich

The controversial and not-shy-with-his-opinions former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has been very active in recent years promoting the automation of health records and EMRs. But he’s never been a great pains to stress how that would get done...
March 1, 2008 in Podcasts, Policy, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

What’s wrong with individual health insurance mandates by Claudia Chaufan

Individual health insurance mandates have lately been hailed as the solution to the health care crisis in America. Mandates to buy health insurance have been included in legislative proposals at the state level – for instance, by Gov. Schwarzenegger and...
February 29, 2008 in Mandates, Policy | Permalink | Comments (45)

Clinton v. Obama on Healthcare, by Bob Laszewski

This is a repost of an original that addresses Hillary Clinton's claim, repeated in last week's Texas debate, that only her health plan accomplishes universal coverage because it has a individual mandate and Barak Obama's does not. Senator Clinton goes...
February 27, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (8)

POLITICS: Ghost in the Attack Machine

I'm up at Spot-on discussing the return of one of the more improbable and unlovable charcters in the last health reform debate, and her recurrence as a Ghost in the Attack Machine. As ever come back here to comment... It's...
February 22, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (20)

POLICY: The financial castrophe of uninsurance will get worse

Just another reminder about the perversity of our insurance system. Steve Lopez in the LA Times writes a about a 57 year undergoing chemo whose COBRA benefits are running out . Whether or not chemotherapy is always the right option...
February 20, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (4)

A Blueprint for Healthcare Reform by Maggie Mahar

On this blog, we have often debated these questions: “Why is U.S. healthcare so expensive? Why is it that states like Massachusetts and California just can’t seem to find a way to provide high quality, affordable medical care for all...
February 18, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (7)

Peeling The Healthcare Onion, By George Van Antwerp

George Van Antwerp is a Vice President at Silverlink Communications where he focuses on developing healthcare communication solutions across the industry with a focus on the pharmacy space. He and I have been conversing back and forth by email for...
February 15, 2008 in PBMs, Policy, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (7)

POLICY: Two awful stories

Just before you get too lost in the wonkiness of health policy, just remember the financial implications of being sick in the wrong circumstancesin this country. Here's a woman with a sick kid who is going to have her husband...
February 15, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (16)

Let's All Ask Secretary Leavitt To Explain HHS' Schizophrenia On Medicare Physician Data - Brian Klepper

Regular readers will know that, last Sunday, I posted a column that pointed to HHS' schizophrenic behavior when it comes to the release of Medicare physician data. First they fight the consumer advocacy group Checkbook.org's lawsuit demanding the release of...
February 13, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Physician Rating, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (2)

POLICY: Has the dog's sore not completely healed?

The NY Times has been getting much better in its reporting on health care policy. After all David Leonhardt had Shannon Brownlee's book as economics book of the year! And they've been getting Jack Wennberg in frequently. But every now...
February 11, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sunday Morning Post, by Brian Klepper

Here's a classical example of a federal regulatory agency holding fast to two opposing ideas at the same time. I wonder what it means? Last week the Department of Health and Human Services posted an interesting notice announcing a new...
February 10, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Physician Rating, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (1)

INTERNATIONAL: Rational talk about Canadian Health Care

I'm very happy to relate that one of the best pieces ever by me on THCB, Oh Canada, (written when THCB was just finding its feet in 2003) is still as relevant as ever. There are still inordinate amounts of...
February 7, 2008 in International, Policy | Permalink | Comments (13)

Is Mandated Universal Coverage the Right Way to Achieve Health Reform? The Health Reform Debate We Haven’t Had Yet, by Jeff Goldsmith

I don’t know how many of you linked over to Lawrence Brown’s perspective piece “The Amazing, Non-Collapsing US Health Care System” in the January 24th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (buried in Mathew’s “Whisper it quietly. ....
February 5, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (13)

On Mandates....

I missed Friday's debate but please can we all remember 3 things before we continue to get too excited about the Obama/Clinton faux dispute a) Mandates alone don't work to get to 100% coverage--every employer mandate has exemptions--every individual mandate...
February 5, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

Eric Novack's SuperBowl lesson

Eric writes: It's brief, but, being a Giants fan, there is little more to say... Beware the Experts (reason #2,754) Another reason why leaving control over our destiny- whether it be our leisure, work, or heath- completely in the hands...
February 5, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (2)

POLICY: The Best-Kept Secret of Campaign ’08: A Bipartisan Solution to Health Reform by Wendy Everett

Wendy Everett is president of the New England Healthcare Institute. She thinks that the candidates for President from both parties agree on the important stuff for health care--dealing with chronic care prevention. I can't say that I'm totally in agreement...
February 5, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (8)

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)

POLICY/PHARMA: DEA's insane persecution of pain patients continues

Just in case you needed to be reminded that the DEA is a refuge of evil scumbags and needs to be abolished, here's another exhibit (from the good people at DRCNet): Federal agents arrested Dr. Stephen Schneider, operator of the...
February 1, 2008 in Pharma, Policy | Permalink | Comments (4)

POLICY: Millenson, not too impressed by Hucakbee's diet mania

He may be out of the White House race by next Tuesday night, but Michael Millenson is interested but not convinced about the values of Gov Mike Huckabee as he promotes self-relicance in health care. Michael is writing at the...
February 1, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (7)

POLICY/INTERNATIONAL: The new health care system in the Netherlands

It would be great if we could get the US to a system of health insurers competing over the right things. With a universal individual mandate that worked, risk adjustment between insurers, and social solidarity mixed with market incentives --...
January 29, 2008 in International, Policy | Permalink | Comments (4)

POLICY: Shannon Brownlee is da man!

It's been really great getting to know the new voice of the Dartmouth school, Shannon Brownlee. She's interviewed in her local paper about the concept that the American health care system delivers More money, but less health. Hopefully we'll have...
January 29, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality | Permalink | Comments (3)

Families USA Health Action 2008: An Alternative Plan - Brian

A wonderful meeting (Full disclosure: They brought me in to blog my impressions.), The Families USA conference that ended Saturday brought together some impressive Congressional politicians - Nancy Pelosi, Tom Daschle, Ken Salazar, Blanche Lincoln - and true health care...
January 28, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (2)

Families USA Health Action 2008: Berwick on Everything Health Care - Brian

One of the pleasures of the Families USA Health Action conference was that the speakers represented a nice blend of top politicians and genuine health care experts. Tony Fauci MD, the wonderful head of NIH's National Institutes for Allergies and...
January 28, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Quality, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (1)

Families USA Health Action 2008: Anthony Fauci on Global Health - Brian

I first met, heard and came to admire Tony Fauci several months ago at the Aspen Health Forum. Dr. Fauci heads the National Institute of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In addition to his spectacular medical contributions,...
January 26, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (1)

Families USA: Tom Daschle on Health Care Reform - Brian Klepper

Former Senator and Majority/Minority Leader Daschle gave the opening address on the 2nd day of the Families USA Health Action conference. Mr. Daschle has a new book coming out in March on America's health system and our past efforts to...
January 26, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (4)

POLICY: The Lessons of '94

Ezra Klein, who I think is hanging with Brian Klepper at Families USA — where Don Berwick is hopefuly showing the link between system reform and insurance reform Friday— has a nice article out on the The Lessons of '94....
January 25, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (3)

Nancy Pelosi's Health Care Address - Brian Klepper

The featured highlight address at the opening session of the Families USA conference is by Nancy Pelosi, Congress' first woman Speaker. In person, Speaker Pelosi clearly comes across as a brilliant and warm woman, a friend of Families USA, and...
January 24, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Families USA Health Action 2008 Conference - Brian Klepper

Along with other familiar voices like Maggie Mahar and Ezra Klein, I'm in DC today writing from the Families USA Health Action 2008 conference. Families USA is a progessive (liberal) consumer advocacy organization dedicated to universal coverage, driven by mobilizing...
January 24, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

POLICY: Why you shouldnt be interviewed over the phone...

Apparently in an interview I had with journalist Thomas Day from Medill reports news service which showed up in this article I said: If you look at California and Blue Cross-Blue Shield, their biggest provider, they came out against the...
January 17, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

WSJ Editorial on Liver Transplants Cherry-Picks the Numbers - Maggie Mahar

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last week that returned to the much-exploited story of Nataline Sarkisyan, the 17-year-old Californian who died before receiving a liver...
January 16, 2008 in FDA, Maggie Mahar, Policy | Permalink | Comments (11)

POLICY: Can You Really Mandate People To Buy Health Insurance? by Robert Laszewski

This evening THCB welcomes our newest contributor. Robert Laszweski has been a fixture in Washington health policy circles for the better part of three decades. He currently serves as the president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates of Alexandria, Virginia....
January 10, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (8)

POLICY: Self-employed, and going it alone

If you want to understand why an individual mandate in a community rated state won't work without both significant reforms to the insurance systems and a whole new range of taxes and subsidies, read this experience of a healthy mid-20s...
January 10, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (9)

POLITICS: Just Saying No to crass politicization

Yeah, I know it's not likely that anyone will pay attention given the season, but I do feel that there are enough cases with which to bash insurers which are legitimate that John Edwards didn't have to start politicizing one...
January 9, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality | Permalink | Comments (3)

On Practical Reforms - Brian Klepper

Now that health care reform is once again an active, visible issue in state governments and the presidential campaigns, the ideas are flying fast and furious. Predictably, some ideas are better than others. Over at Health Care Policy and Marketplace...
January 9, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0, Health Plans, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (11)

POLICY: Ian Morrison--to be thrown out by the Paisley Fabianists club

In a great article called The Fallacy of Excellence my old boss and friend Ian Morrison explains what we intuitively know. people don't understand that more care is not better care. This is going to lead to lots of political...
January 8, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (7)

POLICY: It's official--2 Trillion Dollars

For everyone who’s been going on about our (adopt Dr Evil voice) 2 Trillion Dollar health care industry, it’s now official. The 2006 data is out and we’re at 16% of GDP, $2.1 trillion and $7,000 and change per head....
January 8, 2008 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (2)

POLITICS: More on the Presidential plan comparison

Long time THCB friend Steve Beller tells me this: We’ve created a Comparative Analysis of Presidential Health Care Plans, which analyzes much of the details of Susan Blumenthal's and Kaisers’ work in order to identify top candidates based on voters’...
January 7, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (3)

Health Care’s Cold Truth: An Iowa Perspective - Michael Millenson

I am writing this blog from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, grateful that the temperature has warmed from brutally cold to pleasantly sub-freezing. Fortunately, the warm feelings left by the extraordinary victory of Sen. Barack Obama, the candidate for whom I was...
January 4, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (12)

POLITICS: The Crystal Ball - Healthcare reform in California

I'm up over at Spot-on discussing why the opinion of 32 corn farmers in Iowa may not matter quite as much for health insurance as what's going on in my fair state. The piece is called: A Californian Crystal Ball....
January 3, 2008 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (5)

California not really uber alles

Late last week Brian Klepper stirred things up around here calling California's health care bill Business As Usual. Over at Spot-on earlier this week I was a little more simplistic. I call the California approach The Last of the Old...
December 26, 2007 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (9)

My Nomination For Health Care Quote of the Year - Brian Klepper

I was reading through other peoples’ blog posts yesterday when amazingly enough, I was here on THCB and came across this straightforward statement by Paul Levy, the CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Of course, many readers...
December 22, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0, Hospitals, Physicians, Policy, Quality, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (6)

Business As Usual: California's Reform Proposal - Brian Klepper

In the world of health reform wonks - the writers on this blog qualify in spades - all eyes are on California at the moment. His Republicanism notwithstanding, Governor Schwartzenegger has developed a generous $14 billion bill that would extend...
December 21, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Policy, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (18)

POLICY: Overtreated gets huge plaudit

OK. It’s official. David Leonhardt is a convert, even one who can’t quite leave his past behind. In is NY Times selection for Economics book of the year he picks Shannon Brownlee’s Overtreated. (If you want to hear me and...
December 20, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (4)

POLICY/QUALITY: Uninsurance does indeed kill you quicker

I'm not going to go into the whys and wherefores of what's wrong with cancer care in this country. But when the IOM said that people die early because of uninsurance, people scoffed. The same people (and you know who...
December 20, 2007 in Policy, Quality | Permalink | Comments (2)

POLICY: As Goes California, So Should Go the Nation, by Mary Kay Henry

Now I can’t claim to be an optimist about the future of California's health reform bill. But at least someone is. And that someone is SEIU Executive Vice President Mary Kay Henry. Here’s her take on the latest California news...
December 19, 2007 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (4)

Bad Medicine: How The AMA Undermined Primary Care in America - Brian Klepper

On Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal website, Dr. Benjamin Brewer describes physicians’ reactions to the 10.1% cut in Medicare physician payments that will take effect January 1. He argues that the onus will fall, once again, disproportionately on primary care physicians,...
December 13, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (31)

POLICY: Try and reconcile these two basic statements

The National Federation of Independent Business, which says it has 350,000 members with active lobbyists in 50 states, warned politicians and policy makers on Wednesday not to impose new health-benefit obligations on small employers. The group said in a statement...
December 13, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (4)

POLICY: Trading Places was right!

Every so often I read an article that (I hope) confirms what we know is right. Remember “Trading Places”? Dan Akroyd is stripped of his upper-class environment and fails. Eddy Murphy is plucked form the gutter and succeeds, and the...
December 12, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (5)

POLITICS: Jonathan Cohn confesses on the Obama 15 million problem

Apparently the 15m uninsured in Obama's plan are all Jonathan Cohn's fault. At least the picking up on that number by Hillary and Edwards in the debates, that is. I’m still struggling with how Obama is correctly to the left...
December 4, 2007 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (2)

POLICY: The Proper ASD Policy Begins with Listening to Parents, By John Whitmer

On November 24, 2007 Senator Clinton announced her "Plan to Help Children and Families Affected by Autism." While the Senator should be commended for finally paying attention to the issue in her presidential campaign and while other candidates should take...
December 3, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (3)

POLICY: What next in the fight against AIDS?

Susan Blumenthal updates us on World Aids Day which was last Saturday.
December 3, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

PODCAST: Overtreated, Shannon Brownlee explains all

I am so so far behind getting my transcripts of podcasts up here that it’s not funny. But this was one of the most recent and one of the most fun that I’ve ever done. It was a discussion with...
December 3, 2007 in Podcasts, Policy | Permalink | Comments (12)

Health Care Reform: What Do Americans Want? (Or Think They Want?) by Maggie Mahar

On the surface, it seems that American voters have made their will clear. Poll after poll shows that they are calling for a major overhaul of our health care system. But when you look closer, their responses bristle with contradictions...
November 30, 2007 in Maggie Mahar, Policy | Permalink | Comments (22)

POLICY: Me and the Republicans on NPR (no, not really)

So you can listen to my NPR appearance in Los Angeles on Air Talk hosted by Larry Mantle here (works better in Real Player). The other guest was veteran UCLA Professor Rick Brown, who was playing the lefty here--while I...
November 28, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

An EHR We Can All Agree On, by Eric Novack

I have written about this previously directly and tangentially, but given that this is ‘open enrollment ’ period (for those who still have more than one choice), it is worth repeating. I report this as a part owner of a...
November 27, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (9)

POLICY: The Times' editorial leaves me baffled

I for one remained baffled about what's happening within the gizzards of the Grey Lady. On Sunday the NY Times published presented a long editorial about American health care and its high costs. After the dog sore licking episodes of...
November 26, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (2)

POLICY: Someone else beats up on Herzlinger

Here's Maggie's takedown of Herzlinger's WSJ column, with a heavy dose of Uwe included. And as far as I can see the most important thing about any regulated individual insurance system is consistency of benefits across plans—which means the plans...
November 21, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

POLICY: Low prices ain't cheap enough

Mercer says that the number of small businesses offering health insurance to workers went down last year despite the greater and easier availability of high-deductible and HSA plans. Fewer small employers offered health insurance this year, despite the widespread availability...
November 20, 2007 in Health Plans, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (23)

POLICY: The NY Times Remembers the War on Drugs, but has learned none of its lessons

No one bothers to care much about the war on (some) drugs these days. Sure it’s an $80 billion a year boondoggle for law enforcement and criminals, paid for by the taxpayer at an untold cost in lost civil liberties....
November 20, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

POLICY: Taking Out The Trash-Talk

I’m up at Spot-on talking about a particularly crappy study that snuck into a WSJ editorial. I made some snarky remarks about the math skills of economists at the Manhattan Institute in the process. Of course after the editing process...
November 15, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (10)

CONSUMERS: icyou goes to the Consumer Congress

Our friends at icyou (who by the way are doing a fabulous job with the forthcoming Health 2.0 DVD) are at the 3rd Annual Consumer-Centric Healthcare Congress this week. They have a raft of interviews with some of the smartest...
November 13, 2007 in Consumers, Policy | Permalink

POLICY: Innovation in French health care, yes really...

John Cohn’s most excellent article about why Michael Kinsley would still receive the treatments that allow him to continue to add not always intelligent contributiions to the health care debate is up at TNR. Go read—Creative Destruction.
November 13, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

From Chatter, To Ideas, To Action: Humana’s Change Now 4 Health Campaign

You may be dubious that a big health insurer has much to add to the policy debate. But buried inside many of the giants are some interesting people indeed. Case in point Humana and its attempt to start an open...
November 7, 2007 in Health Plans, Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

Man Bites Dog: Candor in Washington, By Michael L. Millenson

Something odd happened when the health policy establishment gathered in Washington last Thursday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Health Affairs and honor founding editor-in-chief John Iglehart on his retirement. Perhaps because so many of the participants knew each other...
November 5, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

POLICY: Dogs and sores at the Gray Lady, yet again

I thought that the NY Times was getting better, honestly. After all Gina Kolata, a major offender in the dogs licking sores series of last year, did feature Jack Wennberg this summer. But then recently the Times published an op-ed...
November 5, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (9)

POLICY: Wennberg most influential health services researcher

More from the 25th anniversary celebrations at Health Affairs. Health Affairs named Jack Wennberg as the most influential health policy researcher of the past 25 years. Totally obvious choice, but nonetheless richly, richly deserved.
November 4, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

Woodstock of the Wonks: The Health Policy Establishment Honors One of its Own - Michael L. Millenson

You might call it the Washington Woodstock of the Wonks. Hundreds of members of the health policy establishment gathered in the nation’s capital last Thursday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the premier health policy journal, Health Affairs, and honor...
November 4, 2007 in Featured Posts, Policy, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (2)

POLICY: And a little more from Health Affairs

My favorite parts of the magazine are the book reviews and the letters. One book, the reviewer loves; another (with a different reviewer) not so much. Cue letters, is my guess. (Inside joke. I'm sorry) Meanwhile, it’s about time Health...
November 2, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

POLICY: State-sponsored terrorism, courtesy of the DEA

This from a May 2001 discussion article in The Guardian about the new definition the Bush Administration introduced Using the definition preferred by the state department, terrorism is: "Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant* targets by subnational groups or...
November 1, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

POLICY: Socialized fire departments & trading up

Michael Millenson’s excellent and biting piece on the willingness of Orange Country Republicans to accept socialized fire departments has provoked great response. But of course this being America, even the concept of us “all being in this together” for a...
October 26, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (8)

Massachusetts Health Care Reform : The Canary in the Coal Mine By Maggie Mahar

Advocates for health care reform have been keeping an eye on Massachusetts, hopeful that its new health reform law will serve as a pilot program for the nation. I’m much less hopeful than I was two days ago. Yesterday I...
October 23, 2007 in Maggie Mahar, Policy | Permalink | Comments (3)

HEALTH PLANS: Health Plans Behaving Badly

I spent Monday lecturing a bunch of health plans about their bad behavior and how that had to change or they’d eventually be put out of business. So how might that not play out? Here’s my best guess up at...
October 19, 2007 in Health Plans, Policy | Permalink | Comments (4)

PODCAST: Overtreated--Shannon Brownlee explains all

Overtreated is a marvelous new book by Shannon Brownlee. Shannon is a former US News & World Report health reporter, and now is a Fellow at the New America Foundation (that's the centrist third way Clintonite Dem one). In the...
October 18, 2007 in Policy, Quality | Permalink | Comments (4)

POLICY: While Politicians Battle Over Expanding SCHIP, Children Are Dropped From the Program by Maggie Mahar

At the moment, nearly everyone interested in the S-CHIP debate is focusing on October 18, the day the US House of Representatives will try to override the President’s veto of an expanded State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Unlike many...
October 13, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (10)

POLICY: Michelle Malkin is really dumb

Yes, that headline is a blatant attempt to get some of the opprobrium Malkin and her nutty commenters are venting on Jon Cohn and Erza Klein. A little background. Jon, being the sensible moderate, wrote a good article on why...
October 12, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

POLICY: Up at spot on--The Garden Hose Health Care Brigade

I wanted to call it “Hillary Clinton meets Ann Rand,” but my Spot-on Editor decided that she really liked the notion of privatizing the fire department. So I’m up over there dissing on the The Garden Hose Health Care Brigade....
October 5, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (13)

The Perpetual Health Care Crisis By Jeff Goldsmith

I began teaching health policy almost thirty years ago with Odin Anderson at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Like me, Odin was a sociologist, and one of his hobbies was tracking the sociology of our nation’s “healthcare...
October 3, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (20)

POLICY/TALKS: TONIGHT IN HOLLYWOOD!! Holt v Browning Logan Clements--better leave the kids at home!

John Graham at Pacific Research Institute is obviously looking for trouble. So he invited two people who really don't get on -- at least in their online comments on THCB -- to come comment about Sicko and the Canada-bashers response....
September 27, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (8)

POLICY/HEALTH PLANS: Why Health Plans need to change their business model

A reporter called about the PNHP which is running single payer ads attacking Hillary, Barrack and John Edwards. Why are they doing it? Because they want to make sure those guys don't give into the insurers. Realistically there will be...
September 26, 2007 in Health Plans, Policy | Permalink | Comments (8)

POLICY: Clinton and Edwards open the back door By Maggie Mahar

Frequent THCB contributor and healthcare rockstar Maggie Mahar is back today with her reaction to the health care plans recently released by the Clinton and Edwards campaigns. What does Maggie think? Read on, but the title should give you a...
September 25, 2007 in Maggie Mahar, Policy | Permalink | Comments (24)

POLICY: Edwards copies my idea, and a damn good one it is too!

For a very long time I've been saying that the quickest way to get effective health care reform would be to kick Congress out of the FEBHP and make them all buy their care in the individual market. Well in...
September 18, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

BEST OF: JD Kleinke talks about PHRs, Omnimedix and the Dossia controversy

JD Kleinke is always one of the more controversial and fun people in health care policy and health care IT. He doesn't just write about stuff--he also gets really involved. From his early days at HCIA to his more recent...
September 16, 2007 in Podcasts, Policy, Technology | Permalink | Comments (3)

POLICY/INTERNATIONAL: The Dutch--Better than the US at football, drug-laws and health care organization

The Netherlands is a small nation of only 16 million, and yet they have a record in International soccer that's better than many three times their size. laws about drugs and prostitution that reduce crime, violence and embody toleration, and...
September 7, 2007 in International, Policy | Permalink | Comments (4)

POLICY: What the lumenati are saying may surprise you

Forbes has one of those “pics and words” articles about healthcare, with quotes from lots of smart and not-so-smart commenters. But I just thought it would be fun for you to read the quotes and then play the “who really...
September 5, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (14)

POLICY: The DEA continue their sorry role

In raiding like Gestapo officers and then shutting down all the medical marijuana dispensaries in San Mateo county Thursday, the DEA confirmed the sensible opinion that it’s ana gency filled with total scumbags. I guess we can blame the cowardly...
August 31, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

POLICY: Guesses at important dates...

In the comments to Brian Klepper’s piece yesterday, troublemaker commenter JD asks the following Matt, I don't know if you can do polls on this site, but I'd be interested to see what the readers here would guess as the...
August 30, 2007 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (7)

POLICY: Health Care Reform Now? Don't Hold Your Breath

While Brian goes into the details of what's need for reform, it just so happens that a few weeks back I wrote an op-ed for the LA Times suggesting that the current "crisis" wasn't bad enough. As (after soliciting the...
August 29, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (3)

POLICY: Nanotechnology and the Regulation of New Technologies by Bart Mongoven

Bart Mongoven is a senior analyst with Austin based strategic intelligence consultancy Stratfor.com, where he tracks public policy. This piece first appeared in the Stratfor Public Policy Intelligence Report. If you find his analysis interesting, you may want to take...
August 29, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

POLICY: Klepper, moonlighting again!

Just when we thought we had him pinned down, Brian is moonlighting over at Bob L’s blog. His piece is called Solving the Access Problem Isn't Enough If We Don't Deal With Costs. Not absolutely true in my view. I...
August 28, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

What Are They Thinking: ONCHIT and RTI - Brian Klepper

I'm sure I don't really get the deeper issues involved here, but sometimes its hard to not have your breath taken away by some people's notion of a good idea. Maybe its because I'm not a true geek, but what...
August 24, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics, Technology | Permalink | Comments (15)

Benign Neglect and the Nursing Shortage - Brian Klepper

I sit on the Dean's Advisory Councils of the Colleges of Health at two public universities in Florida. Both Colleges are led by extremely capable PhD nurses, and have a variety of programs that train students to be health professionals,...
August 21, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Quality | Permalink | Comments (31)

Essential Reading: Laszewski on Rove and Medicare D - Brian Klepper

All of us who have worked in policy during our careers know the old joke that there are two things you never want to see made: sausage and laws. Never was this more true than with Medicare D. Earlier this...
August 17, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (8)

A Broker Afterthought: An Acknowledgment, An Apology and A Criticism - Brian Klepper

In the comment section of my post on broker compensation, KWeller properly points out that 1) some states regulate broker commissions more stringently than Florida does and 2) I do a disservice to brokers who practice without financial conflict. He...
August 16, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Health Plans, Policy, Policy/Politics, THCB, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

Consultants to Hospitals: Prepare for Transparency - Brian Klepper

We must view and treat the community as the "owner" to whom we are fully accountable. Aggregate financial performance data, aggregate productivity performance and aggregate quality and patient satisfaction data belong in the public realm. How else can consumers make...
August 16, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Health Plans, Hospitals, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (4)

Podcast: Mello on Health Courts

Professor Michele Mello, an expert on the health care justice system at the Harvard School of Public Health, has an interesting 9.5 minute audio podcast on why health courts would be an improvement over the current medical liability system. The...
August 16, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Hospitals, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Presidential Candidates On Health Care

Over at the Huffington Post, Dr. Susan Blumenthal and her team at the DC-based Center for the Study of the Presidency, have released their third in a series of articles comparing the Presidential candidates positions on various aspects of health...
August 15, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

Managed Care Redux - by Brian Klepper

Like democracy, managed care is a great idea. It's just that its rarely been tried. Even so, my guess is that its about to re-emerge in a new, improved form, and possibly with some other name. If the signs around...
August 15, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Health Plans, Hospitals, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, THCB, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (7)

POLICY/HEALTH PLANS: The future of health plans

I had fun writing this piece on behalf of health plan CRM and Business Outsourcing company Connextions to help launch their new series of Thought Leadership Profiles. Some of the really rude stuff hit the cutting room floor, but given...
August 10, 2007 in Health Plans, Policy | Permalink | Comments (8)

POLITICS/POLICY: Hillary kicks idiot butt

I’m not exactly a huge Hillary Clinton fan, but this brief video of her responding to an idiot questioner calling universal medicine “socialized” is pretty funny! Almost more amusing is that there was a Republican in the audience of African-American...
August 10, 2007 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (7)

POLICY: Consumer Reports looks at uninsurance

Consumer reports has a new report confirming what most of us suspected about uninsurance. About 30% of those with insurance don't think that it'll cover them and have delayed care as a result. Which in my view is why user...
August 9, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

POLICY/PHYSICIANS: In which I criticize Uwe Reinhardt, really!

Uwe Reinhardt has written to the NY Times about What Doctors Make, and Why. It's great that they print his letter--they should be featuring a whole lot more of his stuff in comparison to their penchant for printing out of...
August 8, 2007 in Physicians, Policy | Permalink | Comments (20)

QUALITY/POLICY: Sicko, Deloitte and the reason for EBM

The Deloitte Center for Health Care is best known for being headed by Paul Keckley, recently of the Center for Evidence Based Medicine at Vanderbilt, and a minor actor in Michael Moore's recent spat with CNN. (CNN didn't come clean...
August 8, 2007 in Policy, Quality | Permalink | Comments (0)

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)

POLICY/HEALTH PLANS: SCHIP passes the Senate, but I think for now Medicare Advantage is safe...for now

A version of SCHIP that doesn’t touch Medicare passed the Senate last night. It has a veto proof majority. Of course it now has to be reconciled with the house bill that raises more taxes and cuts Medicare Advantage. So...
August 3, 2007 in Health Plans, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (5)

QUALITY/POLICY: Medpundit right on on cancer treatment

I didn’t get around to talking about the cancer treatment article in the NY Times last weekend, but Syd at Medpundit did. And I agree with her—we should be figuring out when to say no, heartbreaking though it is. Although...
August 3, 2007 in Policy, Quality | Permalink | Comments (0)

POLICY: Cohn on Giuliani

Damn, John Cohn is good. Go read it: Why Giuliani wants millions of Americans to stay uninsured
August 2, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

PODCAST: Fine art and healthcare--a conversation with David St Clair, MeDecision

A while back I got a rather unusual email from MEDecision-- an interesting tech company I've interviewed before on THCB. It was actually quoting their CEO David St Clair who'd just seen Malcom Gladwell and it said this: Picasso was...
August 1, 2007 in Podcasts, Policy, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

POLICY/INTERNATIONAL: John Cohn puts the boot in....nicely

I told John Cohn a while back that he was just too nice, and that he shouldn’t engage in the pointless argument with the free-marketeers about whether we treat cancer better or worse than the Europeans—especially as we do so...
July 30, 2007 in International, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (30)

PHYSICIANS/POLICY: NY Times discovers that FFS is a bad idea

Healthcare 101 from Alex Berenson at the NY Times--Fee for service is a bad idea. Not exactly advanced stuff, but at least it's better than nothing.
July 30, 2007 in Physicians, Policy | Permalink | Comments (2)

POLICY: Great new site--Health08.org, and more on health IT in the election

Health08.org - Health care election news, analysis and events from KFF. And it’s the baby of someone THCBers know and love but we can't identify in public because the individual concerned used to have opinions, and KFF isn’t allowed to...
July 27, 2007 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)

POLICY: Lies, half-truths and irrelevancies in defense of mean-spirited politics

My spies tell me that this WSJ article by Bush adviser Allan Hubbard is packed with more half-truths per inch than even stuff emanating from AHIP. But I've lost my WSJ access, as as I won't pay money to Mr...
July 25, 2007 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (7)

CONSUMERS/POLICY: This will be a red rag to a bull

Consumerism And Controversy: A Conversation With Regina Herzlinger Will read and comment later….
July 24, 2007 in Consumers, Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

Don't Blame The VA

I never wrote too much about Walter Reed at the time of the scandal. But this week’s resignation of the VA Secretary, reported by the AP as being connected to Walter Reed, is now being used by some on the...
July 19, 2007 in Hospitals, Policy | Permalink | Comments (5)

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,