Menu:
Readings
Senator Max Baucus, the Congressional Budget Office, and national health reform plans
by DrSteveB in Daily Kos
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), who ruled single payer “off the table” before he even started considering healthcare reform, is now trying to pressure the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to judge the Baucus health plan financially sound. This article includes a solid review of the plans for health care reform "on the table" in D.C. Moral of the story: they still don't get it.
Congressional Budget Office: Prevention + disease management don't cut costs
Kip Sullivan on the CBO report
All the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates in the last election claimed that they would cut total US health care spending by tens of billions of dollars by inducing more frequent use of preventive medicine and “disease management” services. Disease management is also endorsed by Health Care For America Now as a cost-containment method. There is no question that proven preventive and disease management (DM) services can improve patient health. But the claim that prevention and DM can save money is not supported by research.
A dirty bill of health: Pawlenty's health care cuts would soon cost more than they save
February 2nd, 2009 MINNESOTA CAPITOL REPORT by Britt Robson
http://www.politicsinminnesota.com/2009/feb02/1794/dirty-bill-health-pawlentys-health-care-cuts-would-soon-cost-more-they-save
Viewed strictly through the prism of balancing Minnesota's general fund portion of the state budget for the 2010-11 biennium, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's decision to propose drastic cuts in state-supported health care insurance makes sense. Health care costs are rising faster than any other sector of the budget, and the general fund is already facing a real-dollar deficit of at least $5.5 billion over the next two years...But when it comes to creating a health care system that delivers the most efficient, effective care for Minnesotans, Pawlenty's proposed cuts would quickly come to cost more than they save. They would renege on the state's commitment about how it will use taxes collected from Minnesota health care plans and providers. And the negative impact of the reductions would fall disproportionately on the middle class.
Podcasts of Senator John Marty and Ted Marmor
DFL Education Foundation
The Stone Arch discussion group of the DFL Education Foundation holds an excellent series of Saturday morning policy discussions that they record as podcasts. Two recent ones deal with health care reform based on single-payer financing and related issues. I list them below (Ted Marmor of Yale University is a healthcare scholar and policy specialist - with a strong and clear presentation style, I might add). The URL for access to these and other podcasts is http://www.dfleducationfoundation.blogs.com/
The relevant titles to seek out are:
Senator John Marty and Health Care in Minnesota
Ted Marmor & Healthcare Policy Myths
The HCAN idea: Medicare in competition with private insurance
Kip Sullivan on the CBO report
In this [essay] I look at the CBO's treatment of the idea of having a Medicare-like program compete with insurance companies for customers under age 65. The main question I and other single-payer advocates have about the Hacker-HCAN proposal is whether Medicare will indeed have large size in all the cities and regions in which it attempts to operate (presumably it will have to operate in the entire country), and whether Medicare can keep its overhead costs low once it is inserted into the multiple-payer jungle. CBO's comments on this public-private-plan-choice proposal were general, which is not surprising because Hacker et al. have offered few details on how the plan would work. CBO did not include a public-private-plan-choice proposal among the 115 “options” they examined in detail, which means CBO made no estimate of dollar savings for this idea.
First-of-Its Kind Study: Single-Payer Reform Would Be Major Stimulus for Economy: 2.6 Million New Jobs, $317 Billion in Business Revenue, $100 Billion in Wages
National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association
Establishing a national single-payer style healthcare reform system would provide a major stimulus for the U.S. economy by creating 2.6 million new jobs, and infusing $317 billion in new business and public revenues, with another $100 billion in wages into the U.S. economy, according to the findings of a groundbreaking study released today. It may be viewed at www.CalNurses.org. The number of jobs created by a single-payer system, expanding and upgrading Medicare to cover everyone, parallels almost exactly the total job loss in 2008. “These dramatic new findings document for the first time that a single-payer system could not only solve our healthcare crisis, but also substantially contribute to putting America back to work and assisting the economic recovery,” said Geri Jenkins, RN, co-president of the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association, which sponsored the study.
Why do we need a public program within Obama's reform proposal?
Jacob Hacker
Many researchers know that the best solution to our health care mess is a program of national health insurance based on single-payer financing. Many proposals under discussion in Washington, however, feature an "exchange" of insurance-company plans in addition to a publicly funded one. Naturally, even that gesture is seen by the industry as controversial. Jacob Hacker writes the defense.
Dashle's "What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis"
Don McCanne's Quote of the Day
Dashle describes single-payer as the model used by the "world's highest-ranking health care systems." He acknowledges, without dispute, that supporters say that it is "brilliantly simple, ensures equity by providing all people with the same benefits, and saves billions of dollars by creating economies of scale and streamlining administration." Yet he rejects it merely because it is "politically problematic." He would sacrifice the "ideal" system because he is "not willing to sacrifice worthy improvements on the altar of perfection." It certainly is true that opportunities for enacting beneficial policies can be missed when the politics are not in alignment. But it is also true that bringing the politics into alignment can eliminate the opportunity to enact ideal policies. For success in achieving a high-performance health care system, we shouldn't sacrifice policy; we should change the politics.
The Pitfalls of Linking Doctors' Pay to Performance
September 9, 2008 NYT By SANDEEP JAUHAR, M.D
Employers and insurers, including Medicare, have started about 100 "Pay for Performance" initiatives across the country. The general intent is to reward doctors for providing better care. On the surface, this seems like a good idea: reward doctors and hospitals for quality, not just quantity. But even as it gains momentum, the initiative may be having untoward consequences... With P4P doling out bonuses, many doctors have expressed concern that they will feel pressured to prescribe “mandated” drugs, even to elderly patients who may not benefit, and to cherry-pick patients who can comply with pay-for-performance measures. [No doctor left behind? - ed.]
Economic Downturn Leads U.S. Residents To Skip, Delay Medical Care
KAISER DAILY HEALTH POLICY REPORT, Thursday, October 23, 2008
The AP/Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday examined how the "ailing economy is leading many Americans to skip doctor visits, skimp on their medicine, and put off mammograms, Pap smears and other tests," a trend that physicians worry will result in "sicker patients who need more expensive treatment later." A survey released on Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 36% of U.S. residents have delayed medical care in the past year because of cost, up from 29% in April. About three in ten say they have skipped a recommended test or treatment. In addition, a survey conducted in July by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners found that 11% of residents have reduced the number of medications they take or have decreased the dosage because of cost. Read the summary report.
An Experiment with Regulated Competition and Individual Mandates for Universal Health Care: The New Dutch Health Insurance System
By Pauline Vaillancourt Rosenau and Christiaan J. Lako, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law December 6, 2008
The 2006 Enthoven-inspired Dutch health insurance reform, based on regulated competition with a mandate for individuals to purchase insurance, will interest U.S. policy makers who seek universal coverage. This ongoing experiment includes guaranteed issue, price competition for a standardized basic benefits package, community rating, sliding-scale income-based subsidies for patients, and risk equalization for insurers. Our assessment of the first two years is based on Dutch Central Bank statistics, national opinion polls, consumer surveys, and qualitative interviews with policy makers. The first lesson for the United States is that the new Dutch health insurance model may not control costs. To date, consumer premiums are increasing, and insurance companies report large losses on the basic policies. Second, regulated competition is unlikely to make voters/citizens happy; public satisfaction is not high, and perceived quality is down
Studies Say Private Medicare Plans Have Added Costs, for Little Gain
Robert Pear, New York Times, November 24, 2008
Private health insurance plans, which serve nearly a fourth of all Medicare beneficiaries, have increased the cost and complexity of the program without any evidence of improving care, researchers say in studies to be published Monday.
What About Single Payer?
(Drs. Edward P. Ehlinger, director of Boynton Health Service, and Susanne L. King)
In discussions of health care reform, consensus is rapidly developing around the urgent need for universal health care coverage in the United States. There is also an almost universal understanding that this coverage is not feasible without cost containment. Given the facts that over 47 million people in the U.S. are uninsured and an even greater number are underinsured and that the percentage of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) going to health care is over 16 percent, it's not surprising that the issues of access and cost have become priority issues in our country. An increasing number of health care professionals and policy makers are claiming that a single-payer system is the only rational approach that can actually contain costs, achieve universal coverage, and maintain or improve quality.
Indefensible administrative costs could pay for universal coverage
The New York Times, November 21, 2008 by Uwe E. Reinhardt
"The United States spends nearly 40 percent more on health care per capita than its G.D.P. per capita would predict. Given the sheer magnitude of the estimated excess spending, it is fair to ask American health care providers what extra benefits the American people receive in return for this enormous extra spending. After all, translated into total dollar spending per year, this excess spending amounted to $570 billion in 2006 and about $650 billion in 2008. The latter figure is over five times the estimated $125 billion or so in additional health spending that would be needed to attain truly universal health insurance coverage in this country."
Court upholds San Francisco on health coverage plan
Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, Wednesday, October 1, 2008
San Francisco's pioneering program to provide health coverage for uninsured adults took a big step forward Tuesday when a federal appeals court upheld the city's authority to make employers pay part of the cost. The federal law in question, ERISA, is often cited as a reason not to move toward a state-wide single payer system including premium payments by employers.
The financial burden of health care felt by low-income families now affects middle-income families
from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
With soaring health care costs, private insurance may no longer provide sufficient financial protection for a growing number of American families, reveals a new study. Jessica S. Banthin and Didem M. Bernard, of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, with colleague Peter Cunningham of the Center for Studying Health System Change, analyzed data from the national Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) from 2001 to 2004. They found that the rise in out-of-pocket health care expenses, along with stagnant incomes, led one in five privately insured people in middle-income families to face a high financial burden by 2004.
The Pitfalls of Linking Doctors' Pay to Performance
By Sandeep Jauhar, M.D from the New York Times, September 9, 2008
Whenever you try to legislate professional behavior, there are bound to be unintended consequences. With surgical report cards, surgeons' numbers improved not only because of better performance but also because dying patients were not getting the operations they needed. Pay for performance is likely to have similar repercussions...Under P4P, there is pressure to treat even when the diagnosis isn't firm, as was the case with my patient with heart failure. So more and more antibiotics are being used in emergency rooms today, despite all-too-evident dangers like antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic-associated infections...
Medicare-for-All: Why We Should Say Yes, Not “Yes But”
by Merton Bernstein and Theodore Marmor from the Health Affairs blog
Many health policy experts regard Medicare-for-All as a model for reform of America's indisputably troubled and costly medical arrangements. They express admiration for its administrative efficiency and the resulting savings that could pay for extending coverage, perhaps to all. Sometimes even Medicare-for-All admirers succumb to the “yes but” syndrome, as in “yes, but Medicare-for-All is politically impractical.” Though the political “yes, buts” surrounding Medicare-for-All prove groundless, they deserve discussion. However, the “yes, buts” should not preempt discussion of Medicare-for-All's substantive advantages, as they all too often do. In this post, we first describe the advantages of Medicare-for-All, then demonstrate that the evidence behind the political “yes, buts” is exaggerated and flawed.
Commonwealth Fund Survey Shows More U.S. Residents Unable To Pay Medical Bills
More than 40% of working age adults in the U.S. had difficulty paying medical bills or accumulated medical debt last year, compared with about 33% in 2005, according to a Commonwealth Fund study released Wednesday, the Washington Post reports. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, conducted in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007. The survey found that about two-thirds of U.S. adults between ages 19 and 64 were uninsured, underinsured, reported a problem with a medical bill or did not get care due to high costs in 2007.
Presidential Nominees' Health Care Plans Fail to Meet Human Rights Standards, a New Assessment Finds
National Health Law Program (NHeLP) and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI
Senators Obama and McCain have put forward health care reform plans that fail to meet human rights standards, according to an analysis by the National Health Law Program (NHeLP) and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI). This new assessment, based on human rights guidelines for health care reform, finds that both plans rely on market competition to solve the current health care crisis, without addressing how markets could be incentivized to put health protection ahead of profits. Despite significant differences in approach, the nominees' plans share a focus on a consumer product, insurance coverage, rather than on actual health care. Neither plan recognizes the human right to health care – a right guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted in 1948). Within those limitations, Senator Obama's plan is closer to the mark than Senator McCain's, primarily because it may increase access to coverage, whereas Senator McCain's plan would likely result in reducing the number of people able to obtain meaningful coverage.
Just who are the uninsured in Minnesota?
By Casey Selix | Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008 from MinnPost
Minnesota's uninsured residents could fill a city close to the population of Minneapolis. Who lives in this big city? Get ready: We're going to knock down some stereotypes about the uninsured. Direct link to the story on MinnPost:
http://www.minnpost.com/ stories/2008/08/13/2932/just_ who_are_the_uninsured_in_ minnesota
Unions Back Plan that Could Kill Off Real Health Care Reform
by Kip Sullivan from Labor Notes
If Barack Obama wins the fall election, he will be under more pressure to establish universal health insurance than any president in U.S. history. This will be due not only to public disgust with the current health care system, but to the hard work of organizations dedicated to universal health insurance. But the most powerful of these groups, including the AFL-CIO and Service Employees (the major Change to Win health care union) are promoting a solution that won't fix the problem. Their plan would fatten the insurance industry and make it an even more formidable opponent of true reform than it already is.
Paying More, Getting Less: Just Where Do America's Health Care Dollars Go?
By Joel A. Harrison, Dollars and Sense
Americans may well underestimate the degree to which they subsidize the current U.S. health care system out of their own pockets. And almost no one recognizes that even people without health insurance pay substantial sums into the system today. If more people understood the full size of the health care bill that they as individuals are already paying -- and for a system that provides seriously inadequate care to millions of Americans -- then the corporate opponents of a universal single-payer system might find it far more difficult to frighten the public about the costs of that system. In other words, to recognize the advantages of a single-payer system, we have to understand how the United States funds health care and health research and how much it actually costs us today.
CBO Finds Health Information Technology Unlikely To Generate Significant Savings
by Kaiser Network Daily Reports.
Health information technology by itself is unlikely to produce the significant cost savings projected by economic analysts and policymakers, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reports. The analysis particularly questioned a RAND report that estimated annual savings of about $77 billion from widespread adoption of health IT.
Myth vs. fact: consumer-driven health plans
By Center For American Progress, reported by Minnesota 2020, June 07, 2008
“Consumer-driven health care” is the euphemism for high-deductible health plans with savings accounts. It is based on the theory that increased financial exposure will encourage patients to act like consumers, comparing quality and costs and negotiating lower prices. It also, according to the rhetoric, gives people greater control over their health care. Yet many experts paint a different picture.
Report Shows U.S. Spends More on Health Care but Lacks Quality
July 23, 2008, Commonwealth Fund, reported by Uncover the Uninsured
A report by the Commonwealth Fund shows that while the United States spends twice as much on health care per person as other industrialized nations, it is in last place in "preventing deaths through use of timely and effective medical care," reports the New York Times. Source(s): Abelson, New York Times, 7/17/08.
Is Single-Payer Health Care The Best Option? The problem with split-the-difference incremental reform. by Don McCanne
July 16, 2008, The New Republic
The enthusiasm for the model of reform described by Jacob Hacker and endorsed by the Health Care for America Now (HCAN) coalition, which Jonathan Cohn wrote about in his recent New Republic piece "Single-Minded," is understandable. It is a model that attempts to align policy with politics, allegedly meeting the previously unattainable threshold of feasibility. But is it feasible, and will it even work? Probably not.
Number of Underinsured U.S. Adults Increased by 60%
June 10, 2008
(Courtesy of Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report) The number of underinsured U.S. adults increased by 60% from 2003 to 2007, according to a study published on Tuesday on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs, the New York Times reports (Abelson, New York Times, 6/10).
For the study, Cathy Schoen, president for research and evaluation at the Commonwealth Fund, and colleagues surveyed about 3,500 adults between June 2007 and October 2007. About three-fourths of the adults were between ages 19 and 64. The study defined as underinsured adults who had health insurance all year but had out-of-pocket medical costs equal to at least 10% of their annual incomes or greater than 5% for those with low incomes, as well as those who faced deductibles greater than 5% of income (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/10).
The study found that 25 million U.S. adults -- about one in every five younger than age 65 -- were underinsured in 2007, compared with 16 million in 2003. According to the Times, people generally receive generous health insurance through large companies had adequate coverage, but coverage through small companies or the non-group market is increasingly characterized by high deductibles or limited benefits (New York Times, 6/10).
Rigged health care commissions circumvent democracy–again
May 12, 2008
In this legislative session, like in others before it, the Minnesota Senate and House have each passed major health care bills based on the market commodity model. The Minnesota Health Plan, bill SF 2324, (a Single-Payer bill—a government-funded approach, and, according to surveys, backed by most Minnesotans), was scuttled shortly after the legislative session began. Joel Albers explains the big picture.
The Folly of McCain-Care
April 29, 2008
His great new plan isn't new or great. And it still wouldn't help Elizabeth Edwards get decent insurance. Health care author Jonathan Cole explains McCain's "plan."
McCain's Health-Care Muddle
May 1, 2008
John McCain finally came forth this week with what his campaign dubbed a major policy speech, laying out his To Do list for health care reform...In fact, in some respects, it was utterly confusing..
Health Reform You Shouldn't Believe In: What the Massachusetts experiment teaches us
April 21, 2008
Despite the Democrats' coalescence around the same approach for achieving universal care, only one such plan has been implemented -- the Massachusetts health-reform plan. It is therefore worth looking at in some detail.
Will Medical Homes Work?
April 8, 2008
According to health care researcher Kip Sullivan, the answer is "probably not," or, at least, not to the powerful affect expected by proponents. But it sure sounds nice!. See his explanation.
Support for National Health Insurance among American Physicians: Five Years Later (Annals of Internal Medicine, April 1, 2008)
March 25, 2008
"We randomly sampled 5,000 physicians from the AMA masterfile. Both this and our 2002 survey were designed to represent the total population of United States physicians. This survey found that 59% of physicians now support legislation to establish national health insurance (28% “strongly support,” 31% “generally support”), and only 32% now oppose it (17%“strongly oppose,” 15% “generally oppose”). This is a significant change from what we found five years ago, when 49% supported such legislation, and 40% opposed it." (Note the similarity to this survey of Minnesota docs, which is also described here). The press release for the Annals article is here.
More than three working-age Minnesotans die each week due to lack of health insurance (approximately 180 people in 2006)
March 28, 2008
To find out what this means for people across the nation, Families USA has generated the first-ever state-level estimates of the number of deaths due to lack of health insurance.
The results are in: disease management = wishful thinking
March 25, 2008
"Disease management" is an essential ingredient in the undefined medical stew know as "managed care 2.0." It sounds great but there are a couple problems, such as lack of any definitive evidence that it improves health outcomes or controls costs.
The DFL leadership's health "reform"
March 11, 2008
SF 3099, calls for the creation of a second layer of insurance companies beneath the current layer (dominated by Blue Cross, Medica, and HealthPartners). It also requires the publication of report cards on the quality of care provided by these second-layer companies as well as by the individual clinics and hospitals. These "reforms" are to our health care system what poison is to a sick patient. Kip Sullivan's essay spells it out.
Most Minnesota Docs Prefer Single payer
February 29, 2008
Minnesota Monitor journalist Andy Birkey listened to the testimony at the Senate Health Committee and discovered considerable support for single payer among doctors. The survey he quotes in the article is here.
The GAO Looks At Privatized Medicare
February 29, 2008
Congress has been granting massive subsidies to privatized Medicare ("Medicare Advantage") for years now. What have we gotten for it? We are sure that participating insurance companies have gleaned handsome returns in exchange for their lobbying expenses. After that, there is not much to show. See the report.
Analysis of the February 2008 Reports of the Health Care Transformation Task Force and the Legislative Commission on Health Care Access
February 23, 2008
The legislature asked a commission to recommend fixes for our crumbling health care system. The Governor, not to be outdone, did the same. Think they were prepared for substantive change? Kip Sullivan spells out the problems.
Give 'em Health from OWL
February 21, 2008
OWL is a national organization of mid-life and older women. Their Mothers' Day report on health care policy, Give 'em Health is an excellent summary of arguments for national health insurance for all. This is a 38 page *.pdf.
Myth-busting Canadian health care
February 16, 2008
The truth about Canadian health care is gradually seeping into the U.S. debate. Like the Ely Timberjay articles (below) this is a balanced, truthful eye-witness accountthat does not flinch from pointing out where the Canadians could do better.
The "free market" in health insurance is not working
February 12, 2008
We hear "free market" over and over from the other side but the reality is that "the extreme failure of the United States to contain medical costs results primarily from our unique, pervasive commercialization."
Nick Coleman describes Shelley Madore's journey
February 12, 2008
Representative Shelley Madore has seen how our health care system can make life challenging for families that assumed they were "covered." Read his column describing an American tragedy.
The State-Wide Tour
February 10, 2008
Over three days in early February, legislators visited seven towns in many corners of the state. Pictures of the trip show us in action. Local newspapers covered the town hall meetings and here is a selection.
Hillary vs. Obama
February 16, 2008
In an article that does not mention single-payer, FactCheck.org demolishes Hillary's and Obama's claims of universal coverage.
The Mandate in Massachusetts
January 20, 2008
Over 250 Massachusetts doctors have signed an open letter to the country warning that the health reform model enacted by Massachusetts is failing and that a single payer program is the only alternative.
Medical report cards?
January 8, 2008
Kip Sullivan points out in a Strib Op-Ed that medical report cards are a replay of the school-evaluation idea in No Child Left Behind.
Commodity or Community Need?
January 3, 2008
The author of the Minnesota Health Act, Senator John Marty, poses a fundamental question about our healthy care system.
County based Purchasing
December, 2007
Single payer health care can work at the county level, too.
Deprivatization of State Health Programs
December, 2007
Why do we put up with the inefficiencies of private insurance in state programs?
Insurance transparency?
December 19, 2007
Can dealing with health insurance be made into a transparent experience for the consumer? Here is auhoritative information on why not.
Minnesota Families in trouble because of health costs
December 19, 2007
Families USA contracted with Lewin Group to survey family health care costs. The results are devastating. Here is the press release.
Newsweek's Jane Bryant Quinn on single payer
July 30, 2007
The socialists are coming! The socialists are coming! Jane Bryant Quinn talks common sense about the health care crisis and solutions that actually work.
New York Times op-ed on mandates
December 14, 2007
Himmelstein and Wollhandler explain mandates and their failure to solve the healh care crisis.
Single Payer Working Group Report to the Health Care Access Commission
November 20, 2007
The Single Payer Group produced a critically important report that should be read by all Minnesotans looking for a solution to the health care crisis.
Health Care Excuses
November 9, 2007 Op-Ed Columnist Paul Krugman
You might think that the facts would make the case for major reform of America's health care system irrefutable. Instead, however, apologists for the status quo offer a barrage of excuses for our system's miserable performance.
Dismantling the Postwar Health Care System: Tracing the decline in worker health benefits
By Jack Rasmus Z Magazine Online October 2007 Volume 20 Number 10
http://zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/15652
The current system for financing health care, which originated in the immediate post-World War II period, is today approaching collapse. Its decline began in the 1980s and 1990s under Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. The dismantling of that system is now
accelerating under George W. Bush.
An Ounce of Prevention
| November 5, 2007 | by Senator John Marty | |
When defenders of our dysfunctional health care system try to explain why it costs almost double what most other industrialized nations spend for health care, they often claim the higher cost occurs because we have better care. But they are wrong. Our health indicators, like infant mortality rates and life expectancy, are worse than in those other countries. Despite our excellent medical providers and medical technology, Minnesota's system is so wasteful that many families cannot properly access it, even when they have health insurance.
Proposals by Presidential Candidates
-- Joel Clemmer
Since the main stream media is once again devoting it's attention to the horse-race and fund raising aspects of the presidential campaigns, information on their policy intentions is hard to come by. This compilation from Web sites and other reliable sources may help.
The Health Care Crisis and What To Do About It
NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS Volume 53, Number 5 • March 23, 2006
By Paul Krugman , Robin Wells
We know more about the economics of health care than we did when Clinton tried and failed to remake the system. There's now a large body of evidence on what works and what doesn't work in health care, and it's not hard to see how to make dramatic improvements in US practice.
The Smoking Gun: Health Insurer Tied Bonuses to Dropping Sick Policyholders
By Lisa Girion The Los Angeles Times Friday 09 November 2007
One of the California's largest health insurers set goals and paid bonuses
based in part on how many individual policyholders were dropped and how much
money was saved.
How Does Ontario Pay For Their Health Care?
November 24, 2007
Reporters from the Ely newspaper drove to Ontario and asked all the nosy questions we want to know about paying for health care in Canada.
The Reality of Canadian Health Care
November 24, 2007
Here is a judicious, even-tempered journalistic report on the reality in Canada, courtesy of newspaper reporters from Ely, Minneasota, who took a short drive over the border to see for themselves.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune Recommends Single Payer
January 28, 2007
The Minneapolis paper finds that the Massachusetts and California plans are poor answers to our health care problem. It's time to look at single-payer!