October 2009 - Health Beat - The Network of Care

For-Profit Hospitals Poised to Take Market Share From Non-Profits

Non-profit hospitals have been spending, hand-over-fist, on new construction and new wings, adding rooms that most communities don’t need, while investing in the same multi-million dollar medical equipment that five hospitals in a three-mile radius already...

Published Fri, Oct 30 2009 11:27 AM by Health Beat

Lieberman Defects While Public Support for Medicare E Grows

Joe Lieberman is no Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Many progressives admired Olympia Snowe’s stance (even if they disagreed with her). By contrast Lieberman’s announcement that he may join the Republicans in a filibuster that aims to block letting the health care...

Published Wed, Oct 28 2009 11:57 AM by Health Beat

Who Would Be Eligible For A Public Option? Far more than “10%” of the Population

Very likely you have heard that only a “tiny group” of Americans will be eligible for the public plan. But if you read the House bill approved by three House committees (HR 3200) carefully, (this is the proposal that provides... Read More...

Published Wed, Oct 28 2009 11:27 AM by Health Beat

There’s something about Mary…

As debate over the cost of health reform intensifies, it is worth repeating that significant savings will result from making fundamental changes in the way health care is delivered. Here at Healthbeat, we have written extensively about how cutting the...

Published Tue, Oct 27 2009 2:12 PM by Health Beat

Patient-Centered Malpractice Reform

Below, an excellent Op-ed by Kevin M.D. in “U.S.A Today.” It looks at malpractice from the patient’s perspective. Read the whole piece—the final section explores what we might learn from other countries. Before commenting, be sure to take a look... Read...

Published Mon, Oct 26 2009 11:25 AM by Health Beat

The Public Option: It’s Not About Politics; It’s About the Economics of Reform

Last week, I argued that the insurance industry had declared war on President Obama’s plans for healthcare reform because industry leaders sensed—or knew-- that support for a federal public insurance option was building. A week earlier, I told an audience...

Published Sun, Oct 25 2009 1:49 PM by Health Beat

"I'm sorry but we cannot print the data."

Have you ever received this message when you tried to post a comment on HealthBeat? It happens to me too. I finally realized that this happens when too much time elapses between the time I started writing the comment and... Read More...

Published Sat, Oct 24 2009 9:34 AM by Health Beat

A Letter from Canada

Below, a letter from a Canadian disputing some of the propaganda that we hear about health care in Canada. (Thanks to HealthBeat reader Lisa Lindell for putting me in touch with Vera Goodman) This is the first in what I... Read More...

Published Fri, Oct 23 2009 12:24 PM by Health Beat

Why is Health Care So Expensive in Rural Louisiana?

Most discussions of regional variations in healthcare focus on the nation’s cities. Below, a first-of-its-kind map from a post on the Daily Yonder titled “The Uneven Cost of Rural Health Care.” Daily Yonder/Dartmouth Health Atlas This map shows the difference...

Published Fri, Oct 23 2009 6:02 AM by Health Beat

Mining for Gold in Prescribing Records

Drug companies spent $5.0 billion on marketing prescription drugs directly to consumers last year and, as I have written in the past, these ads have paid off. Studies have found that every dollar spent on DTC ads generates up to... Read More...

Published Thu, Oct 22 2009 1:18 PM by Health Beat

Maggie On Lou Dobb’s last night—the Doctor’s “Fix, ” and the Boy in the Balloon

I appeared on Lou Dobbs last night, debating Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute. You’ll find the video here. It actually turned out to be fun. (My children tell... Read More...

Published Wed, Oct 21 2009 2:13 PM by Health Beat

Why are Health Insurers Launching An 11th Hour Attack on Health Care Reform?

They are running scared. And why are they so scared? Because they know that the public sector option is still alive. And here I’m not talking about the possibility that some states will offer public plans: Most state plans would... Read More...

Published Fri, Oct 16 2009 2:43 PM by Health Beat

Should The Swine-Flu Vaccine Be Mandated For Health Care Workers?

Mandatory vaccination programs are seldom without controversy. Since the early 1900’s when public health workers went door-to-door inoculating people against smallpox and authorities blocked unvaccinated children from attending school, these widespread...

Published Thu, Oct 15 2009 11:12 AM by Health Beat

Occasionally, A Health Care Story Leaves Me Speechless (Well, Almost)

As long-time HealthBeat readers know, I have some reservations about hospitals plunging huge sums into plush hotel-like amenities—spas, gourmet food, marble lobbies, mahogany-paneled doctors’ lounges . . .. See “Who Will Pay for the Waterfalls?” I tend...

Published Tue, Oct 13 2009 9:55 AM by Health Beat

October 27: Money-Driven Medicine National “Watch-In” Begins With Screening at the U.S. Capitol—Watch the Film At Home—Free Streaming Video Online

Money-Driven Medicine, the film produced by Academy-Award winning filmmaker, Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side; Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), directed by Andy Fredericks, and based on my book (Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care...

Published Tue, Oct 13 2009 9:40 AM by Health Beat

October 2009 - Health Beat

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