Friday, April 20, 2007

One Cost of Government "Price Negotiations" in Prescription Drugs 

Filed As:  Health Care

Will private companies and freely choosing individuals control our health care system, or will government? That question is the backdrop to the ongoing debate in Congress over "price negotiation" for the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Advocates of negotiation point to a 2006 Kaiser ... more »»

• posted by Grace-Marie Turner
• 4:35 pm
• 0 comment

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

A Doctor at a Grocery Store Near You 

400 clinics to open in Wal-Mart stores

Filed As:  Health Care

I'm going to the store for some paint, a pair of jeans, and ... a blood test.

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott announced that contractors will open up to 2,000 medical clinics inside Wal-Mart stores over the next 7 years. The retailer has hosted ... more »»

• posted by John LaPlante
• 9:28 am
• 0 comment

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

One Step Towards HillaryCare 

SCHIP as a Wedge

Filed As:  Health Care

It's a common theme among conservatives to mock liberal plans for government by saying "It's for the children." The inside joke is that an expansion of government can be rationalized, in the liberal mind, by an appeal to children. But sometimes the joke is close to the truth.

An ... more »»

• posted by John LaPlante
• 9:45 pm
• 0 comment

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

AARP Gets Religion 

AARP will begin selling individual insurance and Medicare Advantage plans

By Tarren Bragdon

Filed As:  Health Care

Last week, a New York Times story highlighted AARP's plan to sell a new Medicare Advantage plan to those over 65 and a new individual insurance plan to those 50 to 64 years old. The products will be available in 2008. ... more »»

• posted by Tarren Bragdon
• 12:10 pm
• 0 comment

Monday, April 23, 2007

A Picture is Worth... 

Filed As:  Health Care

Stop hugging trees and start hugging kids.

Now that Earth Day has come and gone, it's time again for Cover the Uninsured Week of 2007 (good thing it has its very own week or else the uninsured might be forgotten with their mere 484 mentions so far this year in the headlines ... more »»

• posted by Mary Katherine Stout
• 5:11 pm
• 0 comment

Monday, April 23, 2007

Who Are the Uninsured? 

Different situations, different solutions

Filed As:  Health Care

With "Cover the Uninsured Week" underway, it's time to review Understanding the Uninsured and What to Do About Them (PDF), a publication of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance, or CAHI. ... more »»

• posted by Merrill Matthews
• 4:54 pm
• 0 comment

Monday, April 23, 2007

Use of HSAs is Growing 

Enrollment in consumer-directed accounts up 40 percent

Filed As:  Health Care

Though HSAs still represent a small part of the market, they are growing substantially. In January of 2007, 4.5 million Americans were enrolled in an HSA. That's up 1.3 million (or 40 percent) from the year before.

This information comes from a survey conducted by more »»

• posted by John LaPlante
• 9:50 am
• 0 comment

Friday, April 20, 2007

"Universal" Care in the States Gets Wacky 

Massachusetts, Maine, and California

Filed As:  Health Care

Massachusetts. In Massachusetts it gets more interesting by the day. Many of our conservative friends who supported the Massachusetts legislation did so because they naively thought it would enshrine the idea of "personal responsibility." They skipped over the reality that ... more »»

• posted by Greg Scandlen
• 8:46 am
• 0 comment

Thursday, April 19, 2007

You Say You Want a Revolution? 

AOL Founder Launches Health Care Site

Filed As:  Health Care

If we are ever to move from a bureaucratic, third-payer managed approach to health care, consumers are going to have to take more initiative--and become more informed.

Steve Case, the founder of AOL, a service which brought Internet service to the masses, has entered the health care information ... more »»

• posted by John LaPlante
• 6:20 pm
• 0 comment

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Starkly Absurd: It's Not Possible to Split Physicians From Their Diagnostic Machines 

But It Gives State Attorneys-General A Good Excuse for a Shakedown

Filed As:  Health Care

The Stark Laws, named after sponsoring California Congressman Pete Stark, attempt to solve a problem that nobody has proved exists: that if physicians own diagnostic machines, the profit motive will cause them to refer too many patients for too many MRIs, CT scans, and PET scans.  Health Affairs has ... more »»

• posted by John R. Graham
• 1:44 pm
• 0 comment