Where Is Health Spending Headed? Some Reactions To The CMS Report
For the third year in a row, health spending continues at pre-Medicare rates of cost growth. Is this new and welcome trend sustainable? Where is health spending headed?
Accidental Tourist: Visiting the Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok
In December,2012, Jeff Goldsmith journeyed to Thailand, and visited the storied Bumrungrad Hospital. He was really impressed with what he saw. Read about why in The Accidental Tourist.
Health Care: An Alternate Economic Universe
While the US economy continues to labor to create new jobs, the health system has added over a million jobs since the beginning of the recession, despite falling physician office visits, hospitalizations, etc. What gives? Is health care an alternate economic universe?
Roberts’ “Flying Squirrel” Maneuver Takes Down the Affordable Care Act
The Supreme Court unexpectedly affirms the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. In doing so, however, it invalidates a key piece of the law, rendering the expansion of Medicaid “optional” for states. Why the Supreme Court may have dealt a serious blow to health reform.
Barking Up The Wrong Tree: Affordability, Not Cost Growth, Is The Policy Challenge
US health cost growth has reached a fifty year low. What does this mean for health policy? The key problem: nearly half the country cannot afford to use the health system without massive public subsidy. Why affordability, not cost growth, is the major health policy challenge.
MedPAC’s SGR Solution: Bad Medicine For A Chronic Problem
In a failed Congressional experiment with “global spending caps” on physician services, US physicians ended up owing Congress and the Medicare program over $300 billion. The Congressional advisory panel MedPac issues a flawed proposal for cleaning up the so-called Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) mess.
The Fallen Souffle Economy
Continued economic troubles may be bringing healthcare’s three decade long run to an end. Can the health system adjust to scarcity?
Letting Go Of Employer-Based Health Insurance
Intense White House criticism of a McKinsey study predicting a large number of employers dropping coverage when the ACA is implemented begs a question. Suppose health reform actually foretells the end of employer based coverage? It might not be a bad thing. This posting is about Letting Go of Employer Based Coverage.
The Unbridgeable Gap between Left and Right on Health Reform
Controversy rages over health reform. A Republican landslide in November, 2010 strips the Democrats of control of the House of Representatives, and brings into office a new wave of conservative Republicans committed to repealing the Affordable Care Act. Many of the newly elected Republican majority do not believe there is a problem of access to healthcare. This posting discusses the unbridgeable gap between Republicans and Democrats on health reform.
Swamp Creature
Republicans have set themselves the political goal of “repealing and replacing” ObamaCare. They are unlikely to succeed and face significant political dangers, as they confront the Swamp Creature called the Affordable Care Act of 2010.