Health Beat

Passage of $26 billion State Aid Package Is Merely a Stop-Gap Measure For Medicaid Woes

After the House voted this week to approve a $26 billion aid package to states—$16 billion of which will go toward helping keep strained Medicaid programs limping along—Rep. Joe Barton, of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and... Read...

Published Thu, Aug 12 2010 3:08 PM by Health Beat

A Reply to the Cato Institute’s Report on Health Care Reform, Part 2--The Individual Mandate

In “Bad Medicine” the Cato Institute white paper exploring “The Real Costs and Consequences of the New Health Care Law,” Cato senior fellow Michael Tanner declares the “individual mandate,” requiring that every American obtain health insurance (or pay...

Published Mon, Aug 02 2010 8:31 AM by Health Beat

Pelosi Watch: The Final Mile

Today House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed that Congressional Democrats are inching "closer" to final votes on health care reform. She declared that Democrats will take "whatever time is required" to get it finished. “It won't...

Published Fri, Mar 12 2010 11:16 AM by Health Beat

Filed under: Health Care Policy, Current Affairs

Can We Really Have A Bipartisan Health Care Plan?

Just in case you were wondering what the public thinks about the recent upheaval over health care reform, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Wednesday finds some 55% of Americans say President Obama and congressional Democrats should suspend work on the.....

Published Thu, Jan 21 2010 3:08 PM by Health Beat

Living Better...Or Just Living Longer?

The field of longevity research is running high on optimism these days. “Life expectancy is lengthening almost linearly in most developed countries, with no sign of deceleration,” say the authors of the recent Lancet article “Ageing Populations: the challenges...

Published Sat, Feb 20 2010 9:51 AM 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

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

A New Health Bill Means Renewed Opposition from Abortion Foes

Conservatives have argued that abortion has no place in a health care bill—I couldn’t agree more (although for completely different reasons…). In fact, I think individual insurers should be the ones to decide whether or not it makes sense for... Read...

Published Wed, Nov 04 2009 8:19 AM by Health Beat

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

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 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

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

Business Leaders Try to Undermine Reform

In an 11th hour attack on health care reform, a coalition of employer groups, including the Chamber of Commerce, wrote to House Speaker Pelosi and Republican Leader Boehner at the end of October opposing the Democrats' health reform bill. (The......

Published Mon, Nov 16 2009 12:01 PM by Health Beat

Fact-Check: The Cadillac Controversy

“Cadillac Health Care Plans.” Even the phrase suggests gilt-edged insurance for Greedy Geezers at Goldman Sachs . No wonder the Senate wants to slap a tax on insurers and self-insured employers who offer over-the-top policies beginning in 2013. After...

Published Thu, Dec 31 2009 10:21 AM by Health Beat

Kaiser Health News Confirms that the Medicare Buy In Will Be Costly. Who Will Pay?

Kaiser has just posted a report which suggests that the Medicare Buy-In will be even more expensive than I thought. It turns out that median family income for Americans 55 to 64 who don’t have insurance is just $22,510. By... Read More...

Published Fri, Dec 11 2009 1:17 PM by Health Beat

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