rss

Tag: "Health Policy"

0
Two-tiered medical care for haves and have nots

Two-tiered medical care for haves and have nots

As doctors leave the system to join “concierge” practices, patients scramble to find care

0
San Juan County ranked healthiest in state, Ferry County least healthiest

San Juan County ranked healthiest in state, Ferry County least healthiest

Study finds health of state’s residents vary widely from county to county

0
Should healthcare for the elderly be rationed?

Should healthcare for the elderly be rationed?

“We’re finding more and more expensive ways to keep people alive. So we have to find ways to set some limits,” ethicist says.

0
Photo by Carolyn Bunce

Baucus Must Strike A Balance With Three Factions To Pass His Bill

Factions: those for, those leaning in his direction, and a group of “wild cards”.

0
Reform Won’t Work Without Strengthening Nursing

Reform Won’t Work Without Strengthening Nursing

Nurses are left out of the health reform debate, but It is nurses who provide most of the skilled care in hospitals–the only care in many poor communities, writes Sandy Summers, director of The Truth About Nursing and co-author of Saving LIves: Why the Media’s Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk.

0
Health Reform Lessons From Massachusetts

Health Reform Lessons From Massachusetts

Because of its health reform law, almost all Massachusetts residents have health coverage. Now the state has to tackle the more difficult challenge: cost. Article by KaiserHealthNews staff writer Jessica Marcy

0
Sen. Baucus and Grassley with President Obama and Vice President Biden

Baucus-Grassley Bipartisan Partnership Frays Under Health Reform Pressures

Sen. Max Baucus and Sen. Chuck Grassley have long history of cooperation.
But can this marriage be saved? Don’t bet on it, writes KaiserHealthNews staff writer Eric Pianin, at least when it comes to health reform.

0
Dr. House’s Prescription: More Medicine Is Better

Dr. House’s Prescription: More Medicine Is Better

For most cases, doctors say, that Dr. House’s style of “shotgun testing” — a barrage of seemingly random tests — would do little to help patients or lead to a diagnosis, reports KaiserHealthNews staff writer Christopher Weaver.

0
Health Insurance: How Much More Should Older People Pay?

Health Insurance: How Much More Should Older People Pay?

For years, insurers have charged older customers far more than younger ones. Health reform could change that–altering the cost of insurance for millions. KaiserHealthNews staff writer Julie Appleby reports.

0
Barbara Lopez, 46, graduates from Rush University's College of Nursing. Her son, Nick, 16, stands by her side –  and her decision – to go back to school. (Barbara Lopez)

As economic conditions force a tighter job market, new nurses find it’s harder than ever to land their dream job—or any job, for that matter.

“Nursing, even in hard times, was thought to be recession-proof.”
By Chris Linden and Melissa Suran, Medill News Service
It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. Nursing student Barbara Lopez had been told for a long time that she would have an easy time finding a job.
But it took her five months—starting before she graduated in June—to [...]

0
Grassley: No Longer Sure Bipartisan Health Deal Possible In September

Grassley: No Longer Sure Bipartisan Health Deal Possible In September

By Eric Pianin and Mary Agnes Carey
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa indicated Thursday he was no longer sure whether negotiators can reach a bipartisan deal in September, citing mounting public concern about excessive government spending and soaring federal deficits.
Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee which is attempting to draft a bipartisan health care [...]

0
Views: The Health Reform Bills Would Be Great For the Business Of Health Care

Views: The Health Reform Bills Would Be Great For the Business Of Health Care

By Robert Laszewski
President of the consulting firm Health Policy and Strategy Associates
“From the looks of these health care bills, this ‘health care reform’ thing will be great for business!”
Have you noticed how none of the big health care business special interests is running any negative health care reform ads? Why should they when each is [...]

0

Health stories in the news

CDC’s H1N1 predictions less dire than President’s Council of Advisors
New York Times reporter By Donald G. McNeil, Jr. reports that officials at the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention seemed to be playing down the dire predictions released by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology yesterday that projected that as many [...]

0
Should the Homeless Be in Medicaid?

Should the Homeless Be in Medicaid?

By Pam Fessler, NPR News

NPR is a Kaiser Health News partner
Most homeless people in America are too poor to buy their own health coverage, but many also don’t qualify for Medicaid, the government-run health program for the poor.
Walter Brooks, a 63-year-old homeless man, is seen by physician assistant Jean Prevas at the Health Care for [...]

1

Children’s Advocates Fear Health Reform Could Undermine Children’s Health Insurance Program

By Mary Agnes Carey
As Democratic leaders pursue their quest to provide millions of Americans with health care insurance, some advocates see an unlikely casualty of reform: youngsters now covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) whom they fear could end up with reduced benefits.
About 7 million children are insured under CHIP, which provides coverage [...]

0
Health stories in the news

Health stories in the news

Unapproved hormone used to prevent premature births
Seattle Times health reporter Kyung Song writes in today’s issue of the paper about a program in which Washington state’s largest Medicaid contractor is promoting the use of a synthetic hormone that is thought to prevent premature births.
But the hormone, called 17P, has not been approved by the U.S. [...]

0
Obama’s Focus on Cost Offered Critics Many Targets

Obama’s Focus on Cost Offered Critics Many Targets

Had Obama spent more time reminding voters that health reform would provide them with security they now lack he probably would have been better off, writes columnist Jonathan Cohn.

0
Checking in With Health Economist Victor Fuchs

Checking in With Health Economist Victor Fuchs

By Laurie McGinley
“Despite being a supporter of President Barack Obama, Dr. Fuchs suggests that the president and Congress are more interested in getting a reform proposal that can pass than getting a plan that will curb health costs over the long run.”
Victor R. Fuchs is a Stanford University Health Policy core faculty member and the [...]

0

Ad Audit: Allies of Obama Try to Ease Jitters About Health Care Changes

Kaiser Health News’ Jordan Rau fact checks a new TV ad produced by Americans for Stable Quality Care, a coalition supporting the general outline of the overhaul proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats.

By Jordan Rau
AD TITLE: “Mean For You”
SPONSOR: Americans for Stable Quality Care
SUMMARY:
The drug industry, physicians’ lobby and some backers of President [...]

1

In weekly address Obama says opponents of health-care reform resort to “willful misrepresentations”

Transcript:
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009
Each and every day in this country, Americans are grappling with health care premiums that are growing three times the rate of wages and insurance company policies that limit coverage and raise out-of-pocket costs. Thousands are losing their insurance coverage each day.
Without real reform, the burdens on [...]

0
Views: Where Things Stand

Views: Where Things Stand

By James Capretta
President Barack Obama’s op-ed in the Sunday New York Times is a revealing indicator of the state of the health care debate.
Gone is the emphasis on “health care reform” and “bending the cost-curve “and “changing the delivery system.”
As polls in July began showing public support dropping for sweeping health care legislation, the Obama [...]

3
Views: Public Option Will Lower Private Health Insurance Premiums . . . to Zero

Views: Public Option Will Lower Private Health Insurance Premiums . . . to Zero

By Paul Guppy, vice president for research at Washington Policy Center
Responding to the concern that setting up a government-run public option insurance plan would inject politics into American health care, public option backers are saying, “Right. And that’s a good thing.”
A recent Washington Post article reports, “Economists in this [pro-public option] camp say a public option [...]

1

Democrats’ Strategy to Avoid Filibuster Carries Serious Risks

By Eric Pianin
August 21, 2009
With prospects for a bipartisan deal dimming, Democrats are considering the use of Byzantine budget rules this fall to ram through their own version of health care overhaul legislation without fear of a Republican filibuster.
The gambit is laden with parliamentary hurdles that could give GOP opponents plenty of opportunities to block [...]

1

Democrats’ Go-It-Alone Strategy

By Eric Pianin
August 21, 2009
So if Democratic leaders and the White House decide to use special “reconciliation” budget rules to try to pass health care overhaul legislation this fall without Republican support, how would it work?
Every year, the House and Senate draft a concurrent budget resolution – a joint blueprint of anticipated federal [...]

0

Attacks May Force Democrats To Scale Back Health Reform Ambitions

By Eric Pianin and Mary Agnes Carey
August 20, 2009
Relentless attacks on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul effort, coupled with continued questions on how to pay for it, are prompting some political and health care experts to suggest that Democrats will have to scale back the cost and scope of the legislation to get something [...]

0
Can Health Reform Pass? Experts Weigh In

Can Health Reform Pass? Experts Weigh In

Will President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have to greatly scale back their health care overhaul proposals to get legislation passed this year?
Here’s what some experts are saying.
Henry J. Aaron, health care economist at the Brookings Institution:
Congress and Obama should attempt to pass what is necessary for setting the foundation for a process of evolution [...]

0
Gary Diego with a picture of his wife Ellen at his home in Truckee, Calif. Photo: Brad Horn/KHN

Code Blue: Out-of-Network Charges Can Spur Financial Emergency

By Paul Raeburn
August 19, 2009
On the evening of March 1, 2008, Gary Diego was relaxing with his wife, Ellen, when she abruptly lost her hearing, began repeating herself, and seemed to be losing her grip.
Gary Diego with a picture of his wife Ellen at his home in Truckee, Calif. Photo: Brad Horn/KHN
Alarmed, Diego rushed her [...]

0
Photo Credit: KaiserHealthNews

Health Co-ops Touted as Alternative to Public Plan

Seattle’s Group Health Cooperative seen as potential model for health reform.

0

Boehner Blasts PhRMA On Deal With White House

Calls President A ‘Bully’
By Mary Agnes Carey – Kaiser Health News
The drug industry’s decision to agree to $80 billion in concessions to the White House was short-sighted, will hurt drug manufacturers and their customers, and “has all the markings of a deal gone sour,” House Minority Leader John Boehner wrote Monday to his former colleague, [...]

0

Health stories in the news – Aug. 17th

McDermott wants to make reporting of medical errors mandatory
Hearst newsgathers Eric Nalder and Cathleen Crowley report in the SeattlePI.com that U.S. Representatives Jim McDermott wants mandatory national reporting of medical errors.
Nalder and Crowley’s story covers the reaction to a Hearst investigative series Dead by Mistake.
The SeattlePI.com newsgathers were part of an investigative team of seven Hearst [...]

Page 1 of 41234