Health Affairs

Everyone in the health care debate seems to agree that the biggest problem is costs and that the best way to control costs is to get at the waste in the system. To raise the money needed to cover everyone and to make the system sustainable, goes the argument, we need to convert the upwards... Read the rest of this entry »

Last week’s New Yorker article by Atul Gawande highlighted the phenomenally high variations in cost of medical care and services between regions in the United States, specifically focusing on McAllen, Texas. Gawande’s spotlight on McAllen was based on many studies of our health care system. For Gawande’s readers, we would like to point you to... Read the rest of this entry »

Despite economic hard times, Massachusetts still shows gains in insurance coverage and access to care as a result of its 2006 state health reform. However, some of the early gains in reducing barriers to health care and improving affordability had eroded by the fall of 2008, according to Urban Institute researchers in a new study published last week on the... Read the rest of this entry »

Plummeting coverage and soaring costs characterize the nation’s health insurance crisis. With much coverage for the nonelderly based on employment, job loss contributes to this misfortune. In response, Congress seems headed to emulate the 2006 Massachusetts “reform.” That’s an unpromising prescription because it seriously increases costs — just the opposite of what President Barack Obama... Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s Health Wonk Review, the roving digest of the best of health policy blogging, features new posts on health reform, including the public plan option, health care costs, health IT, and more. This week’s host is Tinker Ready of Boston Health News.

There has been a great deal of debate over how much significance to attach to last week’s promise by health care industry leaders to “do our part” in achieving the Obama administration’s goal of cutting health care cost grown by 1.5 percentage points annually. President Barack Obama called the occasion “a historic day, a watershed... Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most controversial parts of the Obama health reform campaign platform was its pledge to create a new Medicare-like public health insurance offering that would “compete” with existing private insurance plans, and put pressure on them and on providers to hold down costs. It would do this mainly by using Medicare-like pricing leverage... Read the rest of this entry »

President Barack Obama’s budget, presented at a joint session of Congress on February 25, sets aside a reserve fund of $634 billion for financing health system reforms. President Obama explained his goal:  “Because of crushing health care costs and the fact that they drag down our economy, bankrupt our families, and represent the fastest-growing part... Read the rest of this entry »

There is widespread agreement that greater investment in information technology (IT) is critical to reforming U.S. health care. The use of such technologies as electronic health record systems, personal health records, e-prescribing, and computerized physician order entry holds the potential for vastly improving care at a reasonable cost. The recently enacted economic stimulus legislation included... Read the rest of this entry »

Wages for registered nurses (RNs) increased faster in California than elsewhere after California began implementing landmark legislation mandating minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in acute care hospitals, according to a study published last week in Health Affairs (and free online through February 24). In 1999, Gov. Gray Davis (D) signed legislation making California the first state... Read the rest of this entry »

For a long time, I have believed the greatest potential for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) is in the treatment of chronic illness. I even wrote some fictional vignettes in a “vision” chapter in the National Center for Policy Analysis’ Handbook On State Health Care Reform, describing how HSAs might work for diabetics and other patients.... Read the rest of this entry »

With the U.S. tab for health care approaching one dollar out of every five, a key question on the health reform agenda is how to achieve value in health care. Jeanne Lambrew, the new deputy director of the White House Office on Health Reform, spoke this morning to nearly 800 health policy wonks at the... Read the rest of this entry »

In President Barack Obama’s first weekly video address to the nation this Saturday, he outlined his proposed stimulus package, including efforts on the health care front: “To lower health care cost, cut medical errors, and improve care, we’ll computerize the nation’s health record in five years, saving billions of dollars in health care costs and... Read the rest of this entry »

President-elect Barack Obama and President George W. Bush may disagree on many topics, but they clearly agree on one thing: information technology (IT) is essential to reforming our health care system. They see the evidence that IT prevents errors that kill tens of thousands of Americans each year, reduces waste and duplication that cost up... Read the rest of this entry »

We are pleased to announce the “most-read” Health Affairs journal articles published in 2008. The number 1 article has topped 61,000 pageviews to date. The next two articles, which were published in September, analyzed the presidential candidates’ health plans. All articles below are open to all readers for the next 2 weeks—through January 28, 2009.... Read the rest of this entry »

When Tom Daschle, President-elect Barack Obama’s designate for Secretary of Health and Human Services, published a book earlier this year titled Critical: What We Can Do about the Healthcare Crisis, I saw the favorable reviews and made a mental note to buy and read it. After Obama’s announced choice of Daschle for HHS secretary, this... Read the rest of this entry »

What are the prospects for health reform? That depends on how flexible the new president turns out to be. Although Barack Obama was highly critical of John McCain’s health plan during the election, he actually needs key elements of the McCain plan. He also needs key elements of Mitt Romney’s health reform enacted in Massachusetts,... Read the rest of this entry »

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose to $12,680 annually for family coverage in 2008 — with employees on average paying $3,354 out of their paychecks to cover their share of the cost — and the scope of coverage has changed, with many more workers now enrolled in high-deductible plans, according to a recent article published... Read the rest of this entry »

The current issue of the Health Wonk Review highlights a number of bloggers who are writing on the potential effects of a $700 billion financial industry bail-out on insurers and the health care system. Jason Shafrin of the Healthcare Economist hosts this edition of the biweekly round-up of the best of health policy blogging.

Editor’s Note: The post by Dennis Cotter below addresses the way in which Medicare should incorporate erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (epoetin) into its composite-rate payment for end-stage renal disease treatment. Watch for subsequent posts on this topic from Amgen and others.  Statement of the problem. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) mandates that the Department of Health and Human Services... Read the rest of this entry »