Health Beat

How Insurers May Use “Wellness Programs” To Target Pre-Existing Conditions

Under reform, insurers will still do their best to shun the sick. Over at AlterNet, health care editor Adele Stan points to one way they may do it: by using “wellness programs” to penalize those who can’t meet health targets.... Read More...

Published Tue, Jan 12 2010 11:41 AM by Health Beat

Anecdotal Evidence Does Not Make Good Policy

Recently, a series of anecdotes appeared on the website People’s Pharmacy, posted by readers who suffer from depression. They detail how switching from name brand antidepressants to generics—or in some cases from one generic to another—caused a return...

Published Mon, Jan 11 2010 3:37 PM by Health Beat

Persuading Canadians to “Hustle Off to Buffalo”

If you drive from Buffalo, New York to Ontario, Canada, you’re likely to see this message on highway billboards: “Fast-track Your Medical Procedure Here.” The red arrow on the sign points Canadians to Buffalo’s Kaleida Health, a five-hospital health care...

Published Sun, Jan 10 2010 11:36 AM by Health Beat

Health Care in Norway- Part 2

The story of the “Norway Solution” to hospital infections reminded me of a letter that I received in the fall, written by Svein U. Toverud, a Norwegian who lived in the U.S. from 1969 to 2003. While he was in... Read More...

Published Wed, Jan 06 2010 2:18 PM by Health Beat

Health Care in Norway: Part 1

“Aker University Hospital is a dingy place to heal. The floors are streaked and scratched. A light layer of dust coats the blood pressure monitors. A faint stench of urine and bleach wafts from a pile of soiled bedsheets dropped... Read More...

Published Wed, Jan 06 2010 1:51 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

“Always Do Right. Gratify Some People, and Astonish the Rest.”

Below, an excerpt from an article in the most recent (December 23 ) New England Journal of Medicine titled “Medicine’s Ethical Responsibility for Health Care Reform — The Top Five List, by Howard Brody, M.D., Ph.D. ” http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/...

Published Sun, Dec 27 2009 8:28 PM by Health Beat

Health Care Reform: The 10 Most Destructive Lies , and the 10 Most Constructive Insights, Suggestions, and Questions of 2009

By Naomi Freundlich and Maggie Mahar This year the rhetoric around health care reform reached historic levels. Barely a week went by without pundits dissecting some new fact, policy detail or wording change implicit in the various reform plans emerging...

Published Thu, Dec 24 2009 10:29 AM by Health Beat

Glass Half-Empty, Glass Half-Full, part 3--Older Americans at Risk

Few observers have commented on how older Americans will fare under the amended Senate health reform legislation, but as things stand, many could be priced out of the health care market. The Senate bill lets insurers in the Exchange charge... Read More...

Published Sun, Dec 20 2009 12:55 PM by Health Beat

Glass Half-Empty, Glass Half-Full—the Senate Has a Bill -- Part 2 of 3

A Close Look at the Details You have to hand it to them: on a Saturday, at the 11th hour, in the midst of a blizzard that shut down the nation’s Capitol, Senate Democrats finally nailed that 60th vote needed... Read More...

Published Sun, Dec 20 2009 11:52 AM by Health Beat

GRITtv with Jacob Hacker, Luke Mitchell—and Joe Lieberman

Yesterday, I appeared on GRITtv with Laura Flanders where Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker, best known as the architect of the public option, Luke Mitchell, senior editor at Harper’s magazine, and I discussed what’s left of health reform legislation...

Published Wed, Dec 16 2009 1:13 PM by Health Beat

Glass Half Empty/ Glass Half Full—Part 1

“Every Decision from Here on In Must Put Patients’ Interests First” Does anyone remember the original goal of healthcare reform? I could type it in my sleep: “to provide high quality, affordable care for all Americans.” Today, the goal has... Read More...

Published Tue, Dec 15 2009 3:15 PM by Health Beat

Questions about the Alternative to the Public Option for Americans Under 55

At the moment, the Senate health-care compromise would replace the public option with a menu of private sector non-profit insurance plans overseen by the Office of Personnel Managment (OPM), the goup that oversees Federal Employees’ Health Benefit Plan...

Published Mon, Dec 14 2009 6:42 PM by Health Beat

Gawande and Berwick on Why Reform Legislation Cannot Lay Out a “Master Plan” – Part 2

Boston surgeon Atul Gawnde and Don Berwick, the president of the Institute for Health Care Improvement, understand that we can create a sustainable, universal U.S. healthcare system only if we reduce costs. And they recognize that by spending less, we...

Published Mon, Dec 14 2009 8:21 AM by Health Beat

Gawande and Berwick On Why Reform Legislation Cannot Lay Out A “Master Plan”

“Where is the plan to make health care affordable?” “I want to see the savings.” “Show me the money: Lay it out in simple language-- on one page.” Critics of health care reform legislation have become increasingly adamant on one... Read More...

Published Mon, Dec 14 2009 7:39 AM by Health Beat

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