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 [...]

As the first H1N1 or so-called swine flu cases were diagnosed in Mexico, health officials all over the United States leapt into action. This is the test that they have been preparing for.
As the disease spread, public health professionals have been actively tracking the cases, working around the clock to analyze lab specimens, offering treatment to [...]

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 in [...]

The most-read posts on Health Affairs Blog this January included much health reform advice to the Obama Administration and calls to action on health IT and rebuilding primary care. Additional commenting is always welcome.

Top 20 Health Affairs Journal Articles For 2008
by Jane Hiebert-White

Complete The Work On Health Information Technology
by David Brailer

Daschle: What Can We Expect [...]

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 [...]

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.

Measuring [...]

Over the summer, Health Affairs Blog posts on the Medicare Advantage debate in Congress claimed top spots on the most-read list for July and August. A late August post by Henry Aaron looked at how Obama and McCain would cover the uninsured. Another late August post by Len Nichols on calculating the cost of covering [...]

As health coverage expansion and its attendant costs are debated on the campaign trail and in Congress and state legislatures, two recent Health Affairs articles dealing with coverage issues – one on the rising number of “underinsured” Americans and the second on the state of the landmark Massachusetts reforms after their first year – have [...]

A post on minority health legislation by Dora Hughes, health adviser to the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, was among the most-read Health Affairs Blog posts for April and May 2008. Discussion of health reform also ranked highly, with posts on what’s happening in Indiana, a roundtable on reform and the 2008 election, and more. Sign up for [...]

In May 2007, Indiana enacted comprehensive health reform in the form of the Indiana Check-Up Plan and its centerpiece, the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP). After intense negotiations, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services granted Indiana the 1115b waiver required for the plan to go into effect in December 2007, and within three months over [...]

Editor’s Note: This post continues the conversation in the Health Affairs Blog roundtable on the unsuccessful health reform effort in California. Below, Lucien Wulsin responds to the ideas expressed in the first round of California posts, which appeared last Wednesday and Thursday. You can also read and comment on response posts appearing today from Rick [...]

Editor’s Note: This post continues the conversation in the Health Affairs Blog roundtable on the unsuccessful health reform effort in California. Below, Patricia Lynch responds to the ideas expressed in the first round of California posts, which appeared last Wednesday and Thursday. You can also read and comment on response posts appearing today from Rick Curtis [...]

Editor’s Note: This post continues the conversation in the Health Affairs Blog roundtable on the unsuccessful health reform effort in California. Below, Ed Neuschler and Rick Curtis respond to the ideas expressed in the first round of California posts, which appeared last Wednesday and Thursday. You can also read and comment on response posts appearing [...]

Editor’s Note: This is the fourth post in a Health Affairs Blog roundtable on the unsuccessful health care reform effort in California. Rick Curtis and Ed Neuschler, Patricia Lynch, and Rick Kronick are also participating in the roundtable. Follow-up comments from Curtis and Neuschler, Lynch, and Wulsin are posted.
Nearly 20 percent of Californians under age sixty-five [...]

Editor’s Note: This is the third post in a Health Affairs Blog roundtable on the unsuccessful health care reform effort in California. Rick Curtis and Ed Neuschler, Patricia Lynch, and Lucien Wulsin are also participating in the roundtable. Follow-up comments from Curtis and Neuschler, Lynch, and Wulsin are posted.
A lot of heat, if very little [...]

Editor’s Note: This is the second post in a Health Affairs Blog roundtable on the unsuccessful health care reform effort California. Rick Curtis and Ed Neuschler, Lucien Wulsin, and Rick Kronick are also participating in the roundtable. Follow-up comments from Curtis and Neuschler, Wulsin, and Lynch are posted.
Kaiser Permanente views the failure to put the health reform legislation developed by Gov. [...]

Editor’s Note: This is the first post in a Health Affairs Blog roundtable on the unsuccessful health care reform effort in California. Patricia Lynch, Lucien Wulsin, and Rick Kronick are also participating in the roundtable. Follow-up comments from Curtis and Neuschler, Lynch, and Wulsin are posted.
Although stymied by economic woes and governance constraints unique to California, the [...]

Comparing health systems, the growth of U.S. health spending, and proposals to fix Medicare physician payment topped the January-February 2008 most-read list for the Health Affairs Blog. Sign up for email or RSS feed alerts to stay on top of new postings. Additional commenting always welcome.

U.S. Worst At Beating Death From Treatable Illness
by Jane Hiebert-White
HEALTH [...]

Editor’s Note: Economists Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation and Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution have different worldviews when it comes to how best to allocate scarce health care resources, but on one subject they have come to strongly agree: a way to end the political impasse in Washington [free access article] and make [...]

It’s the morning after President Bush’s veto of the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). How did a program that started out with such bipartisan support become the health policy wonk equivalent of all-out war? Today’s Health Wonk Review takes a look across the blogosphere for some health policy soul-searching.
Politico blogger Ben [...]