…new normal. One could imagine considerable public outrage and mobilization against this new commodified status quo, just as there was against corporatized HMOs in the 1990s. Second, though politics at…
Managed cost, mismanaged care
…1929. Origins of managed care The prepaid group practice originated as an attempt to meet comprehensively the health care needs of specific defined communities. The first such practice, the Ross-Loos…
Medicare for All: The Only Solution to Big Pharma
…followed by near constant litigation from drug companies, which meant that legal costs accounted for 18 percent of its budget in early years. Drug companies complain that New Zealand is…
How would hepatitis C patients fare under single payer?
…to be addressed.” https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2015/11/287551/expensive-drugs-cure-hepatitis-c-are-worth-cost-even-early-stages-liver-fibrosis *** Comment: By Don McCanne, M.D. This important study shows that the new hepatitis C drugs, such as Harvoni, are cost effective for early disease as…
Bayh howls with the Blue Dogs
…rule that requires new mandatory spending or tax cuts to be fully offset with increases in revenue or spending cuts elsewhere. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Newsletters/Washington-Health-Policy-in-Review/2009/Mar/Washington-Health-Policy-Week-in-Review-March-23-2009/For-Blue-Dogs-Health-Budget-Raises-Questions-Of-When-Not-Just-How.aspx The Blue Dog coalition in the House of…
Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H., Briefs Democratic Platform Committee on Single Payer
…is less than 3% (see: https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/statistics-trends-and-reports/reportstrustfunds/downloads/tr2015.pdf), and overhead in Canada’s single payer program, which streamlines administration by paying hospitals global budgets, is 1.8% (see: https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/nhex_trends_narrative_report_2015_en.pdf). 3. The large administrative savings…
Should we require providers to accept Medicaid?
…Medi-Cal patient that comes in the door,” said Hernandez. “The dilemma is…you can’t force people to see Medi-Cal patients because of the poor reimbursement rates.” http://californiahealthline.org/news/californias-public-hospitals-face-new-medi-cal-mandate/ *** Obamacare Expansion A…
“Public option” bait-and-switch campaign fools pollsters
…a competitor with the “insurance industry” or “health insurance companies” also connotes universality. Any one of these three features – employing the word “option,” comparing the “option” to Medicare, and…
No-Fault Compensation in New Zealand
Harmonizing Injury Compensation, Provider Accountability, and Patient Safety Commonwealth Fund, February 2006 Executive Summary In New Zealand, patients seek compensation for medical injuries not through malpractice suits as in the…
Media Miss Bigger Picture in Healthcare Debate
Ignoring 'mandate' plans' record of failure
…Mrs. Clinton believes there will always be some free riders who respond only to a government stick,” Sack wrote (New York Times, 2/23/08). While Sack cited cost-cutting proposals by Obama…
New York Universal Health Care Options Campaign
…Assembly Health Committee to Vote this Week on Universal Health Coverage Commission Senate Republican Introduces Similar Proposal ALBANY, NY � Members of the New York Universal Health Care Options Campaign…
More definitive report confirming that most physicians accept Medicare
Access to Physicians’ Services for Medicare Beneficiaries
…physicians report accepting new Medicare patients. The percentage of physicians who report accepting new Medicare patients is similar to the percentage of physicians who report accepting new privately insured patients….