October 2009 - Health Beat - The Network of Care

Mayo Clinic Family Medicine in Arrowhead Arizona Will No Longer Take Medicare Patients

The Mayo Clinic now has two family medicine clinics in Arizona. Beginning January 1, primary physicians at one of those clinics will no longer see Medicare patients unless they are able and willing to pay an annual $250 administrative fee,... Read More...

Published Fri, Oct 09 2009 1:00 PM by Health Beat

Should We Let Some States “Opt Out” of a Public Sector Insurance Option ?

There is now some talk of finding a compromise to the public option debate by including the public option in health reform legislation—and then letting individual states “opt out” leaving their citizens without the opportunity to sign up for a... Read...

Published Thu, Oct 08 2009 12:24 PM by Health Beat

Why Aren’t We Winning The War On Cancer?

Below, a guest-post by HealthBeat reader Frederick L. Moolten, M.D. Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, he has devoted several decades of his career to cancer research, supported by the NIH and the VA. We love... Read...

Published Wed, Oct 07 2009 11:15 AM by Health Beat

Rethinking October’s Focus on Mammography

October is National *** Cancer Awareness Month and the sea of pink has reached tidal-wave proportions. Every conceivable product from yogurt to running shoes to breakfast cereal now sports the ubiquitous pink ribbon. This month some NFL players will wear...

Published Wed, Oct 07 2009 9:35 AM by Health Beat

The Health Care Debate Is Not “About Policy—or Values; It’s About Politics”

Over at the Hasting Center’s new “Values and Health Reform Connection,” blog Joanne Kenen’s candid post, “Honest Debate, and Candid Solutions” caught my eye. I recommend it to HealthBeat readers. (Kenen writes The New America Foundation’s “New Health...

Published Wed, Oct 07 2009 6:45 AM by Health Beat

Connecting American Values with American Health Care Reform

The Hastings Center, a nonpartisan bioethics research institute, recently asked me to write an essay to help launch their new group blog, The Values and Health Reform Connection. The website focuses on American values, and why they matter to health.....

Published Tue, Oct 06 2009 6:52 AM by Health Beat

Some Medicare Advantage Plans Do Provide Value—the HMOs

When I reported on the waste in Medicare Advantage plans not long ago, HealthBeat reader Don Grunt pointed out that not all MA plans are alike. He wrote: “I'm a Medicare Advantage product manager in Oregon where 45% of beneficiaries... Read More....

Published Mon, Oct 05 2009 7:55 AM by Health Beat

Class and Health Care Reform

Over at TNR, special correspondent Thomas B. Edsall raises provocative questions about the coalition of wealthy and poor that elected Obama. Will they stand together? Below, excerpts from his post, and my comments: “The health care debate has exposed...

Published Thu, Oct 01 2009 12:15 PM by Health Beat

The Health Care Lottery

Below, a guest-post by Nortin M. Hadler, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology at UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine.Dr. Hadler is also an Attending Rheumatologist at UNC Hospitals, and author of The Last Well Person: How to stay well...

Published Tue, Oct 13 2009 7:26 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

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

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

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

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

October 2009 - Health Beat

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