Obviously, when a patient is discharged from a hospital, every effort should be made to avoid slip-ups that might result in an unnecessary readmission soon after discharge. Yet many patients have serious, unstable conditions that can require readmissions that are unavoidable.

Following is the Quote of the Day from September 12, 2001. Editorial The New York Times, September 12, 2001 “But this is an age when even revenge is complicated, when it is hard to match the desire for retribution with the need for certainty. We suffer from an act of war without any enemy nation [...]

With today’s high unemployment rates, some have celebrated the fact that employment in the health care sector has continued to grow. This study confirms that health care employment in fact has grown within the state of Massachusetts, which has served as a model for our national reform through the Affordable Care Act. Should we be celebrating these newly generated jobs?

Extensive studies have shown that over the past few decades income has dramatically shifted upwards to the wealthiest individuals. This study adds to that data base by showing the impact on the middle class. A third of Americans raised in the middle class have fallen out of the middle (and this was before the economic downturn).

As a Canadian libertarian now serving as President and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, an organization advocating for free market solutions to America’s problems, Sally Pipes is issuing a warning that “Medicare-for-All may become the new rallying cry for progressive luminaries.” Further, “if President Obama wins a second term, he may look to heed that cry.” Don’t we wish!

Employers who want to reduce their roles in providing health insurance for their employees, yet do not want to turn their employees over to the state insurance exchanges and pay penalties for doing so, seem to have another option – private exchanges.

In “Breaking Point,” John Geyman explains why it is crucial for us to rebuild our primary care infrastructure, and how we can do it. Highly recommended!

Consolidation is accelerating, and the largest insurers are positioning themselves to be at the top of the heap.

The Medigap working group established by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has reinforced the view presented in yesterday’s message that we should be very concerned about forcing out-of-pocket cost sharing onto patients.

NOTE: It is likely that few Quote of the Day subscribers read this 2007 message on John Nyman’s new theory of moral hazard and welfare gain because it is long and terribly wonkish. It is being reprised here because current trends in health care payment reform violate these important concepts, thereby resulting in further impairment [...]