Health Stew

How concentrated is Mass. health market? Now you can take a look.

Sat, 18 May 2013 20:12:21 GMT

Check out a great new resource on the Massachusetts health care system from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts: the Massachusetts Health Care Delivery System Map.

The Oregon Tale: A Medicaid Kerfuffle

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:46:08 GMT

The United States is the only nation on earth that dares call itself advanced that does not provide basic access to necessary medical services and financial protection from illness to all our citizens. Fixing that is not about data or studies, it's about our values as a nation and as human beings.

Obama and the ACA's Rocky Implementation

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:39:41 GMT

"But if we stay with it and we understand what our long-term objective is, which is making sure that in a country as wealthy as ours, nobody should go bankrupt if they get sick and that we would rather have people getting regular checkups than going to the emergency room because they don't have health care -- if -- if we keep that in mind, then we're going to be able to drive down costs, we're going to be able to improve efficiencies in the system, we're going to be able to see people benefit from better health care, and that will save the country money as a whole over the long term."

The Horns of our Hospital Dilemma

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 22:19:45 GMT

While we rightly applaud and praise our local hospitals and medical professionals for their performance and integrity when we need it the most, we've still got a lot to do to get this system right.

Employer Health Insurance in Rapid Decline Across U.S. -- and Not in MA

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 22:52:56 GMT

The rapid decline of employer-based health insurance in the U.S. continues. The ACA may slow or accelerate the trend, but it's a trend far older than the ACA. Instead, the ACA is providing an option for workers in those firms without other ways to find health insurance coverage. This time, Massachusetts is a national laggard -- in a good way.

The Cost of Obesity

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:10:44 GMT

Here's an info-graphic designed by a team from the George Washington University School of Public Health as part of National Public Health Week (last week). It's pretty smart and worth a look:...

Surprise! It's National Public Health Week

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:01:15 GMT

Congratulations to the many thousands of Americans engaged in the profession and practice of public health. Your work is worth celebrating.

On Healthcare Payment Policy, Maryland and Massachusetts Are Aligning

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 01:13:28 GMT

If adopted, Maryland will be the second state, after Massachusetts, to establish a framework to keep health care costs rising no faster than the growth of the state economy.

Happy 3rd Anniversary ACA and an Unnoticed Star

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 19:24:18 GMT

While the brushes with death are over, huge challenges remain -- especially leading up to those coming on January 1 2014 when these enormous reforms all take place on the same day.

Budget Sequestration and the U.S. Health Sector

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 22:08:51 GMT

A lot of damage, and none of it needs to happen.

The Global Tobacco/Smoking Threat

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:19:04 GMT

One truth is clear -- the tobacco wars are far from over. In some ways, we're clearly winning, and in other ways, we're clearly losing. And the fight goes on...

A Surgeon Generals Advice to Me

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 03:24:38 GMT

In President Obama's second term, here's hoping that Dr. Regina Benjamin will find her platform and voice. And here's a bit of advice someone once told me: Illegitimi non carborundum.

Missing Inaction: The National Health Care Workforce Commission

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 03:38:35 GMT

If the political temperature on the ACA can moderate so much that at least 7 Republican governors can embrace a huge expansion of Medicaid, is it too much to hope that Congressional Republicans can allow the National Health Care Workforce Commission to get to work?

The Changing Politics of Medicare & Medicaid Finance

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 20:14:51 GMT

The widely shared wisdom about Medicare and Medicaid is that the programs are in crisis because of rapid and uncontrollable spending increases. Many say the only solutions are to raise the Medicare eligibility age to 67 from 65, block grant and cut Medicaid payments to states, and undertake other draconian steps to reduce eligibility, benefits, and cost protections from the programs' 112+ million enrollees. The conventional wisdom is wrong.

Two Big ACA Breakthroughs

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 02:14:38 GMT

n other words, rather than a socialist takeover the U.S. health care system, the ACA is actually a concession to a private market vision of how the system can reflect conservative principles. This from one of the nation's leading conservative Republican critics of ObamaCare for the past three years.

Dr. Don Berwick Looks Back and Ahead

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:48:15 GMT

"And then you get the 'Knight Manual' -- there's a manual. And I don't remember what's on the first page, but at one place it says: 'Privileges of Knighthood.' One is: If you commit a capital crime, unlike commoners who are always hanged, you can get to choose. You can be hanged or beheaded.

The Health Spending Slowdown: Fact or Fiction?

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 02:24:33 GMT

"From the March 2010 baseline to the current baseline, such technical revisions have lowered estimates of federal spending for the two programs in 2020 by about $200 billion -- by $126 billion for Medicare and by $78 billion for Medicaid, or by roughly 15 percent for each program."

The Medicaid Silver Linings Playbook

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:11:21 GMT

The June 2012 Supreme Court decision making the Medicaid expansion a state option will turn out, politically, to be enormously positive, perhaps even a game changer, for the future of the Medicaid expansion in particular and the ACA in general.

Americans Support Medicare, Medicaid and ACA Expansions

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:57:03 GMT

Though Americans continue to have mixed feelings about the ACA, they increasingly support implementation of the laws primary pillars.

Whole Foods John Mackey Gets ACA and Health $$ Wrong

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:41:40 GMT

I like your groceries, Mr. Mackey, much more than your ideas about health care.

Holes in the ACA: A Damage Assessment

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:19:15 GMT

Overall, given the scope and intensity of the opposition to the Affordable Care Act for the past 34 months, it could have been a lot worse. The United States' health reform law has been banged and bruised and is standing tall.

CLASS Dismissed What Happened?

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 03:03:38 GMT

...last week, Congress and the President repealed the entire Title VIII of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare), arguably the largest change in the national health reform law since it was signed nearly 34 months ago in March 2010. One might assume this repeal involved lots of budget savings that would be untrue. Savings = $0.00. So what happened?

Health Policy Details in the Fiscal Cliff Deal

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 03:43:05 GMT

In news accounts of yesterdays new tax law approved by Congress to avoid the fiscal cliff, health care barely got a mention. One might think that the law had nothing to do with health care. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Nine Governors and their Christmas Choices

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 16:59:46 GMT

Rationing is a word that is least popular among Republicans who use the term quite generously to criticize health care reform proposals they don't like. But what is the denial of Medicaid coverage to a state's poorest citizens other than rationing -- especially when everyone else in the state will have some form of guaranteed coverage? The deliberate denial of medical services to certain groups because of cost, that's what this is.

Mental Health and the ACA

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 03:24:41 GMT

Here's a question: regarding U.S. mental health policy, what's the most important and consequential federal legislation ever signed into law? Answer: the Affordable Care Act, also known as the ACA and Obamacare. Hardly anyone appreciates the enormous advance in mental health policy created by the ACA, and it's true.