The Health Care Blog

Sell Patients like Baseball Players - Seriously

By JOE FLOWER Here's a health care reform strategy that I have not heard anywhere else. Think about this: Why aren't health plans more aggressive in promoting the long-term health of their members, like getting them to eat better, stop...
November 19, 2009 in Health Plans, Joe Flower, Patients, Reform | Permalink | Comments (46)

Pay (Only) for Health Care that Works

Charles Silver & David A. Hyman Health care is expensive partly because governmental payers and insurers foot the bill for large quantities of medical services that are ineffective, unnecessary, or unproven. According to a RAND report, studies of clinical efficiency...
November 11, 2009 in Congress, Costs, Health Plans, Policy, Reform | Permalink | Comments (30)

The Best Health Care Idea All Year

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI Out of almost nowhere has come momentum for a proposal to create a bipartisan entitlement and tax commission to draft proposals to control the long-term costs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The idea would require the...
November 11, 2009 in Reform, Robert Laszewski | Permalink | Comments (18)

Modest step in the reform journey shows the idiocy of our political system

By Matthew Holt It does seem to take a health care bill to remind us all how incredibly screwed up the political process is in these here United States. The Medicare Modernization Act was railroaded through by Tom Delay and...
November 8, 2009 in Congress, Democratic Party, Policy/Politics, Reform | Permalink | Comments (14)

Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Health Care Debate

By Greg Rienzi, Staff writer for the Johns Hopkins Gazette While concepts for health care reform volley back and forth in Washington, D.C., and around the nation, Johns Hopkins has quietly but meaningfully injected itself into the debate. Johns Hopkins...
November 5, 2009 in Costs, Policy, Reform | Permalink | Comments (10)

Op-Ed: Why "free market competition" fails in health care

By JOE FLOWER In trying to think about the future of health care, thoughtful, intelligent people often ask, “Why can’t we just let the free market operate in health care? That would drive down costs and drive up quality.” They...
November 3, 2009 in Economics, Marketplace, Reform | Permalink | Comments (32)

A “Third School” of Cost Containment?

By BILL KRAMER Is there a “Third School” of reformers that could help us resolve the long debate about how to contain health care spending? Drew Altman’s recent column describes the history of the debate between the “Regulators” and the...
November 2, 2009 in Costs, Reform | Permalink | Comments (7)

Saving Health Care, Saving America

By BRIAN KLEPPER, DAVID C. KIBBE, ROBERT LASZEWSKI and ALAIN ENTHOVEN So far, Congress' response to the health care crisis has been alarmingly disappointing in three ways. First, by willingly accepting enormous sums from health care special interests, our representatives...
October 30, 2009 in Brian Klepper, Corruption, Current Affairs, David Kibbe, Marketplace, Policy, Policy/Politics, primary care, Reform, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (46)

A Bill of Rights for Health Care Reform

By KIM BELLARD Our nation's Founders created a pretty good system of government by starting from what they wanted to achieve, exemplified by the Bill of Rights, so perhaps we would be wise to base health care reform on a...
October 29, 2009 in Patients, Reform | Permalink | Comments (13)

Hiding In Plain Sight: Using Medicare To Solve The ‘Public Option’ Conundrum

By JEFF GOLDSMITH As Senate and House Committee versions of health reform move toward unified legislation and floor votes, the most complex political challenge is how to resolve the “public option” controversy. While one would have thought weightier issues such...
October 21, 2009 in Jeff Goldsmith, Medicare, Public Option, Reform | Permalink | Comments (53)

Silly Season: Monty Python Policy Making

By IAN MORRISON Editor's Note: Ian Morrison today makes his first contribution to THCB. Ian was President of Institute for the Future where I learned my health care consulting trade in the 1990s. A more amusing boss one couldn't have...
October 19, 2009 in Reform | Permalink | Comments (5)

Will We Get a Health Care Bill in 2009?

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI It’s decision time. The Congress will or won’t pass a major health care bill during the next few weeks. Will we get health care reform in 2009? Almost certainly not. As I have been saying for months,...
October 14, 2009 in Congress, Reform, Robert Laszewski | Permalink | Comments (33)

The Senate Finance Health Bill Has No Clothes

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI Readers of this blog know that I have lots of concerns for the Senate Finance health bill primarily because it does not so much represent health care reform as just an expensive entitlement expansion. Readers also know...
October 12, 2009 in Reform, Robert Laszewski | Permalink | Comments (25)

Let’s Not Lose Sight of the Goals

By BILL KRAMER I love Daniel Schorr. I’ve never met him in person, but I love his voice and his insights about politics on NPR’s Weekend Edition. But this morning I was disappointed. After listening to his comments on the...
October 4, 2009 in Obama, Policy/Politics, Reform | Permalink | Comments (10)

Can Social Media Save Healthcare Reform?

By Daniel Palestrant Daniel Palestrant is the Founder & CEO of Sermo, the largest online physician community, and a friend of THCB’s from the Health 2.0 world. Lately Dan has been seen on cable TV representing the 110K+ Sermo members...
October 1, 2009 in Physicians, Policy/Politics, Reform, Sermo, Technology | Permalink | Comments (40)

Health Reform and Medicare: Part I

By THOMAS L. GREANEY Here’s a pop quiz on health reform: Which prominent Republican said the following: And if you don’t [oppose this health care legislation] and if I don’t do it, one of these days you and I are...
September 30, 2009 in Medicare, Public Option, Reform | Permalink | Comments (9)

Will Victory on Health Care Reform Mean Defeat for the Democrats?

By JOE FLOWER Being a futurist is not really about making predictions, but people ask for them anyway. So here is one: The way things are trending right now, Obama and the Democrats will succeed in getting a reform bill...
September 27, 2009 in Democratic Party, Obama, Policy/Politics, Reform | Permalink | Comments (48)

Capitol Shortage: Can the Two Democratic Parties Get It Together on Health Reform?

By JEFF GOLDSMITH As an exceptionally grumpy American summer grinds to a conclusion, it is apparent that only a bipartisan solution will enable Congress and the Obama Administration to complete health reform. No, we’re not talking about co-operating with the...
September 27, 2009 in Jeff Goldsmith, Reform | Permalink | Comments (29)

"Reform" Means Higher Costs, Not Lower

By JOE FLOWER A reader asks: "If the current bill passes are my health insurance costs likely to go up, down, or remain about the same?" If the form that I believe most likely to pass actually passes (insurance reforms,...
September 21, 2009 in Costs, Health Plans, Reform | Permalink | Comments (4)

Health Care Outlook Not Improving

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mon) released his much-anticipated healthcare proposal Wednesday morning. The next big test for a health care bill in 2009 (notice that I did not call it health care reform) will come in Senate Finance....
September 21, 2009 in Reform, Robert Laszewski, Senate, Senate Finance Committee | Permalink | Comments (58)

Health care reform: econo-think, democracy and sustainability

By LAWRENCE W. ARRINGTON Bill Moyers Journal recently interviewed Wendell Potter, who spent much of his career in corporate communications for health insurance giants CIGNA and Humana. Every American concerned about affordable and quality health care and the American political...
September 20, 2009 in Economics, Reform | Permalink | Comments (1)

Good News for Uninsured Children Should Jumpstart Health Reform

By JOCELYN GUYER In 2008, the number of uninsured children in the United States hit the lowest level in two decades. If Congress weren’t in the middle of a fierce debate on health reform, there would be time for everyone...
September 17, 2009 in Children's Health, CHIP, Medicaid, Reform | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Chairman's Mark - Good Ideas, Potentially Fatal Flaws

By ROGER COLLIER So, at long last, Senator Max Baucus has released his Chairman’s Mark draft health care reform bill for discussion by the full Senate Finance Committee. The 223-page draft bill is generally consistent with the “Framework for a...
September 16, 2009 in Medicare Advantage, Reform, Roger Collier, Senate Finance Committee | Permalink | Comments (3)

Is an IOM v. CBO Smackdown Looming on Health-Reform Costs?

By TIM MULLANEY The U.S. can cut health-care spending by $250 billion a year within a decade, a congressionally chartered panel will say this month in a bid to show costs can be contained even if all Americans are insured....
September 15, 2009 in CBO, Economics, IOM, Medicare, Reform | Permalink | Comments (8)

Not Really an Option

By GARY NISSEN To: Executives leading U.S. Hospitals The public option appears to back in the national dialogue and I’m wondering how concerned you all are about that. After all, many of you have been quite successful at minimizing the...
September 13, 2009 in Economics, Hospitals, Public Option, Reform, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (16)

Reminding Washington of What the Health Care Debate is About

By ROB DAY This summer, we witnessed countless demonstrations on the health care debate across the country. The media has broadcast and written about impassioned pleas from conservatives and liberals alike, each swearing, with an alarming level of certainty, that...
September 12, 2009 in Patients, pharmaceuticals, Reform | Permalink | Comments (6)

The Speech: Could this have been what he planned all along?

By BOB WACHTER White House Photo A conventional look at The Speech: Obama over-learned the lessons of Hillary-care; he gave Congress too long a leash; he lost control of the message; the wacko’s attacked with a barrage of Socialist/Nazi/Plug-Pulling-on-Grandma-isms; not...
September 11, 2009 in Bob Wachter, Obama, Reform, The Speech | Permalink | Comments (17)

Economist: "A huge step forward. With one exception ..."

A thumbs up: "Cleverly borrowing good ideas from both sides of the party divide, his proposals at least look like a plausible basis for agreement. The plan obliges everyone to take out health insurance while creating a tapering subsidy for...
September 10, 2009 in Obama, Reform, The Speech | Permalink | Comments (39)

Public Still Backs the Public Plan

By MERRILL GOOZNER The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that President Obama in his speech tonight will renew his support for including a public plan option in health care reform. He will also endorse an individual mandate, which could...
September 10, 2009 in Public Option, Reform | Permalink | Comments (34)

10,000 US physicians have something to say and we're not wasting time.

By DANIEL PALESTRANT, MD Today, as Congress returns to session, all 100 Senators will be listening to physicians on SERMO when they deliver the “US Physician’s Appeal” on Capitol Hill. Wasting no time, my physician colleagues and I, armed with...
September 8, 2009 in Congress, Physicians, Reform, Sermo | Permalink | Comments (46)

No Alternative: An Analysis of the GOP Plan

By HARRIS MEYER Congressional Republicans have been blasting away all summer at the Democrats’ health reform legislation. But they might face heavy blowback if more Americans took a close look at two ambitious health reform bills sponsored by GOP lawmakers....
September 8, 2009 in Congress, GOP, Reform | Permalink | Comments (37)

Happy Trails, Trigger

By ROGER COLLIER Okay, my apologies to Roy Rogers, but I was pleased to see in the New York Times that the idea of a public plan trigger is finally getting serious consideration by the White House and by Senate...
September 8, 2009 in Health Plans, Reform, Roger Collier, Senate Finance Committee | Permalink | Comments (3)

Healthcare Reform: Strangled In Its Bed

By JOE FLOWER Follow the bouncing ball here: Health care was a mess, cost way too much, sick people getting dropped by insurance companies and left to die and bankrupted and all that. The obvious solution: Go to a single-payer...
September 8, 2009 in Congress, Health Plans, Policy/Politics, Public Option, Reform | Permalink | Comments (3)

Transcript of Obama's Health Care Speech (and the GOP response)

Transcript of the GOP Response to Obama's Speech The full text of President Obama's address on health care to the Joint Session of Congress: --------- Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, and the American people: When I spoke...
September 7, 2009 in Congress, Obama administration, Reform, Videos | Permalink | Comments (3)

Winners and Losers - Strategy in a Post-Reform World

By BILL KRAMER Most health policy experts are focusing on the daily ups and downs in the political battles over health reform. Within the health care industry, however, there is a buzz about who will be the winners and losers...
September 4, 2009 in Health Plans, Reform, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (29)

Our President is on the Ropes

By DR. STEPHEN KARDOS Recent pictures of President Obama suggest he is battered and on the ropes. Our President can recover if he chooses to change his fighting strategy to improve health instead of budgeting health. There is clearly emerging...
September 3, 2009 in Obama administration, Physicians, Reform | Permalink | Comments (39)

Betsy McCaughey’s Infected Advocacy

By MICHAEL MILLENSON A while back, before her stardom on Jon Stewart, the PR wallah for Betsy McCaughey--she of the death panels--emailed me offering an interview about the evils of Obamacare. After I took her up on the offer, the...
September 3, 2009 in Michael Millenson, Reform | Permalink | Comments (10)

Op-Ed: Health Panels are a NICE Way of Improving Care and Controlling Costs

By ADRIAN BAKER One of the proposals for health care reform is to have a panel of medical experts oversee Medicare, in order to improve quality and reduce cost. But false accusations permeating the debate have scared people into thinking...
September 2, 2009 in NHS, Op-Ed, Reform | Permalink | Comments (23)

Will Republicans Be Spoilers Or Problem Solvers on Health Care Reform?

By BRIAN KLEPPER and DAVID C. KIBBE In theory Congress' return from recess next week could offer a new beginning to the health care reform process, giving everyone a chance to take a deep breath and recalibrate the components of...
September 2, 2009 in Brian Klepper, Congress, David Kibbe, Reform | Permalink | Comments (12)

Time for a Closer Look (and Lower Costs)

By ROGER COLLIER One of the effects of the exaggerations, misinterpretations, distortions, and downright lies about Congressional health care reform proposals—mostly from far-right politicians and their hangers-on—has been to deter more objective analysis. In fact, two key features of the...
September 1, 2009 in Congress, Medicaid, Medicare, Public Option, Reform, Roger Collier | Permalink | Comments (3)

Separating Fact from Fiction and Health from Health Care

By JAMES S. MARKS, ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION In an editorial on Wednesday, The New York Times debunks the often-cited claim that America has the best health care system in the world. For the politicians who routinely use this as...
August 31, 2009 in prevention, Quality, Reform, RWJF | Permalink | Comments (22)

Advice For State REC Planners

By DAVID C. KIBBE & BRIAN KLEPPER On August 20th, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and ONC head David Blumenthal announced $598 million in grants to set up about 70 "regional extension centers" (RECs) that will help physicians select and implement...
August 31, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, EHR, HIT, HITECH, REC, Reform | Permalink | Comments (4)

Health Reform Bills Would Be Great For the Business Of Health Care

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI Editors Note: This piece by veteran THCB contributor, Robert Laszewski, first appeared on Kaiser Health News. The piece is republished here with permission. Have you noticed how none of the big health care business special interests is...
August 29, 2009 in Public Option, Reform, Robert Laszewski, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (17)

Innovation and Absence of Evidence vs. Evidence of Absence

By Joshua Seidman Jon Gabel from the National Opinion Research Center has an excellent op-ed piece in today’s New York Times. The basic argument is summarized in his conclusion: “The Congressional Budget Office’s integrity is beyond questioning. But the record...
August 28, 2009 in Congress, Economics, Information Therapy, Reform | Permalink | Comments (0)

Health Care Reform's Deeper Problems

By BRIAN KLEPPER and DAVID C. KIBBE Congress' health care reform debate has highlighted how American governance is broken and the difficulty of addressing our national problems. Take, for example, whether health care is in crisis at all. Conservative commentators...
August 27, 2009 in Brian Klepper, Congress, David Kibbe, Democratic Party, Reform | Permalink | Comments (56)

There Will Not Be Health Care Reform in 2009...

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI ...without Republican leadership. I will suggest that there is an opportunity for the Republicans to score a huge political and policy win. It can be done in a bipartisan way and it can be done in a...
August 26, 2009 in Costs, GOP, Malpractice, Reform, Robert Laszewski | Permalink | Comments (26)

Death Panels, Palliative Care, and the Dangers of Modern McCarthyism

By BOB WACHTER It’s time to fight back. The “death panel” nonsense is not a harmless and amusing political canard – it is modern McCarthyism: the shameless, heinous use of lies and distortions to scare and confuse people. The tide...
August 24, 2009 in Bob Wachter, Palliative Care, Reform, Sarah Palin | Permalink | Comments (43)

Neither Quick Nor Easy

By THOMAS L. GREANEY The idea of establishing regional cooperatives, advanced as an alternative to President Obama’s public plan option, has attracted attention as a means of assuring that health reform legislation contains some means to improve competition among health...
August 22, 2009 in Cooperatives, Policy, Public Option, Reform | Permalink | Comments (9)

Are Cooperatives a Reasonable Alternative to a Public Plan?

By TIMOTHY S. JOST First, a word about history. We have tried cooperatives before. During the 1930s and 1940s, the heyday of the cooperative movement in the United States, the Farm Security Administration encouraged the development of health cooperatives. At...
August 20, 2009 in Cooperatives, Health Plans, History, Public Option, Reform | Permalink | Comments (9)

Ditching the Public Option

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI It looks to me like the popular objections to a health care bill being expressed by voters this month are concentrated in two primary areas: A concern about “government control of the health care system”—mostly around the...
August 18, 2009 in Policy/Politics, Public Option, Reform, Robert Laszewski | Permalink | Comments (53)