The Health Care Blog

Mylan Fiasco May Be “The Shot Heard Round the World”

By NIRAN AL-AGBA, MD The Mylan EpiPen debacle may have inadvertently weakened the grip Big Pharma on U.S. lawmakers. Last week, a bill proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders was narrowly rejected by a vote of 52-46. Unexpectedly, 12 Republicans and 1 Independent...

Published Mon, Jan 23 2017 9:01 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Is Trump Headed Into His Own “If You Like Your Health Plan You Can Keep It” Quagmire??

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI On Friday night the administration issued an executive order giving Trump administration appointees enormous flexibility in modifying how the Obamacare individual health insurance market works. Specifically, President Trump has given...

Published Sun, Jan 22 2017 4:06 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Resist the Evil Fiction That Is Health Insurance

By MARGALIT GUR-ARIE It has come to pass. President Donald J. Trump. Are you scared? Are you planning to “resist” the policies you imagine President Trump will pursue by tweeting furiously with clever hashtags galore? Would you prefer to move my fastidious...

Published Sun, Jan 22 2017 10:00 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Interview with Mark Pauly: Part 2

President Trump and Obamacare By SAURABH JHA Healthcare reformers, like the wives of King Henry the 8th, have a thankless job. In a curious inversion of the Tudors, President Trump, who has promised to make healthcare great again, finds...

Published Sat, Jan 21 2017 12:29 PM by THCB

Filed under: Economics, Repeal + Replace

Trump Executive Order: Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal

By JONATHAN HALVORSON Section 1 is warm up. Section 2 sets the stage for non-enforcement of individual mandate, employer mandate, and any other requirement/tax/penalty in the ACA. Section 3 is more throat clearing Section 4 sets the stage of selling insurance...

Published Sat, Jan 21 2017 9:18 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Interview with Mark Pauly: Part 1

Community Rating – the worst possible way to do a good thing By SAURABH JHA I have a grudging respect for health economists, “grudging” because, like many doctors, I want my pieties unchecked. Health economists check our pieties with quantitative...

Published Fri, Jan 20 2017 4:54 PM by THCB

Filed under: Economics, Repeal + Replace

The “Art of the Deal” in the Healthcare

BY MICHAEL MILLENSON Obamacare, at least in its original incarnation, is on its way out. The pressing question now is whether “art of the deal” health care will remain. “The Art of the Deal” is the title of the 1987 best-seller that catapulted real estate...

Published Fri, Jan 20 2017 9:18 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Online Rankings For Hospital Executives?

By BRADLEY FLANSBAUM, MD This week’s NEJM features an article on hospital-sponsored online rating sites for docs. The author, Vivian S. Lee, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, a prominent health services researcher discusses the adoption and success of her program at...

Published Fri, Jan 20 2017 5:25 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Key Takeaways From the Price Confirmation Hearing

BY PAUL KECKLEY As DC readies for the Inaugural fest, the four-hour confirmation hearing for President-elect Trump’s nominee for HHS Secretary, Tom Price, an orthopedic surgeon and six term House of Representatives’ member from the Atlanta suburbs, was...

Published Thu, Jan 19 2017 8:24 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Not Normal Chaos

By JOE FLOWER The short version of Vox’s Sarah Skiff on “Why Republican disarray on health care doesn’t doom repeal efforts” would read something like: “It always looks this way in the throes of preparing major legislation. Remember how wild and confusing...

Published Thu, Jan 19 2017 8:06 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

The Tragedy of Obamacare

By ANISH KOKA, MD The Senate has taken its first step to repeal Obamacare. By a final party line vote of 51-48 the Senate approved a budget resolution setting the stage for rolling back much of the Affordable Care Act. Consternation reigns among Democrats...

Published Wed, Jan 18 2017 10:52 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Pig in a Poke Health Reform

By UWE REINHARDT From a political perspective, House Speaker Paul Ryan’s trashing of ObamaCare (a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act or ACC) during CNN’s recent town hall meeting probably was quite effective. One would, of course, not expect a staunch political...

Published Mon, Jan 16 2017 9:07 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized, Uwe Reinhardt

The Arc of Justice in Healthcare

By DANIEL STONE, MD We all fear that phone call. A medical report turns out the wrong way and life may never be the same. When that call arrives we all have the same needs: A doctor who cares, a place to go for treatment and the finances to afford what...

Published Thu, Jan 12 2017 2:37 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Why Consumers Are the New Patients

RAY DESROCHER Meet Edith Stowe. An 83-year-old resident of the District of Columbia, Ms. Stowe has made a routine out of her two to three monthly trips to MedStar Health, a Maryland-based nonprofit health system. After all, her life literally depends...

Published Wed, Jan 11 2017 9:38 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

The Unlovable Political Logic of Health Reform: Step Right Up!

By JEFF GOLDSMITH Every so often, voters conspire to hand unambiguous control over the federal government to a single political party. It is rarely the unmixed blessing that party strategists dream it to be. President Clinton got a Democratic Congress...

Published Wed, Jan 11 2017 10:42 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

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Mylan Fiasco May Be “The Shot Heard Round the World”

Is Trump Headed Into His Own “If You Like Your Health Plan You Can Keep It” Quagmire??

Resist the Evil Fiction That Is Health Insurance

Interview with Mark Pauly: Part 2

Trump Executive Order: Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal

Interview with Mark Pauly: Part 1

The “Art of the Deal” in the Healthcare

Online Rankings For Hospital Executives?

Key Takeaways From the Price Confirmation Hearing

Not Normal Chaos

The Tragedy of Obamacare

Pig in a Poke Health Reform

The Arc of Justice in Healthcare

Why Consumers Are the New Patients

The Unlovable Political Logic of Health Reform: Step Right Up!