The health plan touted by Senator Hillary Clinton would force people to buy something they cannot afford and then impose a heavy fine on them when they don’t buy it, says John G. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a public policy research organization with offices in Dallas and Washington, DC. It’s Goodman’s view that at the end of the day healthcare consumers will be worse off than they were at the outset. In response, Clinton says that she’ll limit the amount people have to pay in premiums to 5 or 10 percent of their incomes. To read Goodman’s 10-point rejoinder, click here.
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health insurance ...
Yesterday, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed HR 1424, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 by a vote of 268-148.
Supporters say the bill will help end discrimination against patients with mental illnesses. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health policy ...
Last month, New York became the latest state to confront a problem that other states have been wrestling with for some time—increasing the supply of physicians in their underserved areas.
New York, like other states with large swatches of rural land, has reason to act. One-quarter of the state’s population—roughly 4.9 million people—lives in areas with more than 3,500 people per physician. According to the state Department of Health, it would require an additional 300 primary care physicians or more in each of these Health Professional Shortage Areas to begin to right the imbalance. Many of these same areas are also short of specialists. Eight New York counties, for instance, have no gynecologists practicing obstetrics. And Western New York is hemorrhaging surgeons at an alarming rate. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health policy ...
In the debate over healthcare reform, organized medicine, led by the AMA, has long favored a pluralistic approach, long on private involvement, short on government intervention.
Now the American College of Physicians has strayed from the established orthodoxy. In a paper released online in early December (and in the pages of the Annals of Internal Medicine this month), the ACP has put forth a number of recommendations, including one calling for universal health insurance coverage, either through a revamped pluralistic system—something along the lines of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB)—or, more controversially, a single-payer system. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health policy ...
The blog EMR Medical Software Information and Resources has posted a comprehensive rundown of where the presidential candidates stand on electronic medical records systems. The post also contains links to further information from the candidates. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health policy ...
Not everything is as rosy in the UK’s National Health Service as Sicko makes it. Patients in the UK are restricted to seeing doctors close to their homes. The resulting inconvenience costs a total of 3.5 million working days a year in productivity. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health policy ...
Earlier this year, wary observers were hoping against hope that the traditionally bipartisan issue of children’s insurance wouldn’t become entangled in ideologically driven, election-season debates over healthcare reform.
But that’s precisely what’s happening this summer as Congress and the Bush administration square off over reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the federal-state partnership aimed at kids whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to buy private insurance. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health policy ...
The AP speculates that the recent terrorist plot in Britain will contribute to the shortage of doctors in the US, making it harder for foreign-born doctors to get through the screening process. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health policy ...
85 percent of those responding to a survey commissioned by financial services company PNC say that hospitals and physicians should be required to disclose the cost of medical services to the public. And more than half said that knowing what hospitals and doctors charge for specific treatments and exactly what insurers pay would influence where they seek care. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health policy ...
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