Health Affairs

As uncomfortable as it is for many Americans to accept, allocation issues are a permanent feature of our health care system, “reformed” or not.  Who should get the H1N1 flu vaccine first? In a flu pandemic or a biological disaster, who should be put on respirators and who should not?  These hard choices are realities,... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: Some of the key differences between the House and Senate health reform bills revolve around drug pricing. For example, the House bill requires drug manufacturers to provide, at a minimum, the same rebates for drugs provided to dual eligibles — those eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid — under Medicare Part D as... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: In the post below, Tim Jost looks at provisions of the Senate Democratic health reform bill dealing with Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP, and many other significant topics. In earlier posts, Jost took a first look at the Senate bill, provided a detailed look at several issues that arise under the bill’s insurance reforms, and discussed abortion coverage and the constitutionality... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: In the post below, Tim Jost looks at how the Senate Democratic health reform bill treats abortion coverage, and also at the question of the individual mandate’s constitutionality. In earlier posts, Jost took a first look at the Senate legislation and provided a detailed look at several issues that arise under the bill’s insurance reforms. In... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: In the post below, Tim Jost provides a detailed look at several issues that arise under the insurance reforms included in the Senate Democratic health reform bill. In an earlier post, Jost provided a first look at the bill. In a third post, Jost looks at how the bill treats abortion coverage and also... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: In the post below, Tim Jost takes a first look at the Senate Democratic health reform legislation. In a second post, Jost provides a detailed look at several issues that arise under the bill’s insurance reforms. In a third post, Jost looks at how the bill treats abortion coverage and also at the... Read the rest of this entry »

Atul Gawande, leading surgeon and writer, and Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of food and drugs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, are among the confirmed speakers for the 2010 National Health Policy Conference (NHPC). The conference, sponsored by AcademyHealth and Health Affairs, will take place February 8 and 9, 2010.  No other conference offers a... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: In the post below, John Wennberg and Shannon Brownlee discuss the controversy over a proposed study of regional variations in Medicare spending. Wennberg and Brownlee rebut claims that spending and utilization variations among academic medical centers are due to differences in patient income, race, and health status. In another post coming next week,... Read the rest of this entry »

From the very beginning, a central tenet of health care reform was that no one would lose coverage they already have. That’s why so many women are outraged by the Stupak amendment to the health reform legislation recently passed by the House.  It goes against one of the fundamental tenets of health care reform: do... Read the rest of this entry »

The newly released November-December 2009 edition of Health Affairs features a series of articles on the challenges posed by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  The articles focus on steps policymakers can take to change the dynamics of the pandemic so that millions of lives will be saved, infections prevented, and overall costs made more affordable. Publication of the... Read the rest of this entry »

Louise Norris at the Colorado Health Insurance Insider features the best in health policy blogging in a Simpsons-themed edition of the Health Wonk Review. Louise leads off with the Tim Jost’s series analyzing the House health reform bill on the Health Affairs Blog.

Editor’s Note: In addition to John Wennberg and Shannon Brownlee (photos and bios above), authors of this post include James Weinstein, MS, DO, and Elliott Fisher, MD, MPH. Weinstein is chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Fisher is Director of the Center for Population Health at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and... Read the rest of this entry »

A new policy brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation explores a key aspect of landmark health reform legislation passed by the House of Representatives: the proposal for a government-run public health insurance plan. The brief lays out details of the plan, including who could enroll, who could receive subsidies to buy... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: This is Tim Jost’s fourth post examining HR 3962, the House’s health reform legislation. Previous posts focused on measure’s health care financing reforms, the legislation’s provisions for an insurance exchange and a ”public option,” and HR 3962′s delivery system reforms and other provisions. How did HR 3962 change on Saturday night? As everyone knows by now, the House... Read the rest of this entry »

The November/December 2009 edition of Health Affairs focuses on key global health challenges – including the economic, political, scientific and ethical ones – facing world policymakers in their response to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention.  Over the next several years, the world could face a funding shortfall that would prevent millions more with HIV/AIDS from gaining... Read the rest of this entry »

According to the first national study of hospital board chairs linked to quality performance, just half the boards rated quality of care as one of their two top priorities and only a minority reported receiving training in quality.  The study was published today on the Health Affairs Web site. “Most boards have primarily focused on financial issues,... Read the rest of this entry »

In many countries, primary care clinicians serve as the foundation for health care and the “gatekeepers” for more specialized referrals. A new international survey of primary care physicians in eleven countries finds that American doctors are significantly behind many of their counterparts elsewhere in providing access to high-quality care and use of health information technology,... Read the rest of this entry »

On October 13, the day the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of health reform, the Health Affairs Blog held a roundtable on public opinion and health reform. Participants included Bob Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard; Chad Bohnert, director of marketing and e-commerce at Zogby International; Mollyann Brodie, vice president, public... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: What follows is the transcript of a roundtable on public opinion and health reform that took place on October 13,  the day the Senate Finance Committee approved its version of health reform legislation. Participants included Bob Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard; Chad Bohnert, director of marketing and e-commerce at... Read the rest of this entry »

Posts on public opinion about health reform and how to achieve high-quality, low-cost health care topped the Health Affairs Blog most-read list for October. Additional comment on these and all posts is always welcome. Can Slumping Support For Health Care Reform Be Turned Around? by S. Ward Casscells, Hiliary Critchley, Thomas Amoroso, James Tyll, and... Read the rest of this entry »