John R. Graham
Commentary
It’s a “Wrap”: Brokers Harm Consumer-Driven Health Care
For months now, I’ve heard stories about a technique that insurance brokers use to sell health insurance to small businesses, which want the lower premiums that come with a consumer-directed health plan, but are nervous about convincing their employees to face a deductible of at least $2,200 for a family ...
Commentary
California Tobacco Control Program Wants More Money
I have spent (undoubtedly too much) time today struggling with a new article from the tobacconistas at the University of California, San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, a group of scholars funded by tobacco taxes, which publishes research calling for more…..(you guessed it)…..tobacco taxes. But not only ...
Commentary
New York Times’ Funny Math on Massachusetts Health Care
Only in government-run health care, or in the editorial offices of the New York Times, would it be considered a “success” to spend over $3 to solve a $1 problem. Dazzled by the lure of so-called “universal” health care, the NY Times editorial board enthuses that two thirds of the ...
Business & Economics
Medical Malpractice Update in Wisconsin, W. Virginia, & New York
The Kaiser Daily Health Report gave us an update today on med-mal developments in three states. In West Virginia, the number of med-mal lawsuits increased by 34 percent over a three year period. It looks like a warning sign that something is unravelling since the Mountain State capped non-economic damages ...
Commentary
The Promise of Telemedicine
The St. Louis (that’s the city Barack Obama he thought he was in a couple of days ago, before he figured out he was in Kansas City) Post-Dispatch ran a very positive article on the success of telemedicine in increasing quality and lowering health care costs. What impressed me was ...
Commentary
Madness of Medi-Cal Dependency; Follies of Fiscal Federalism
California’s politicians have run our state into a $17 billion deficit. For months, the governor and legislature have been wrangling over how they’ll soak us to fill the hole. Although there’s little hope that they’ll shrink government spending in the long run, they had to stop the bleeding in the ...
Commentary
Multilingual Mandate Madness
By July 1, California health plans had to complete a key phase in their compliance with SB-853, which compels them to provide translation services in whatever languages its members demand. California is still in the United States, so I’ll go out on a limb and guess that the majority of ...
Commentary
The governor’s war on health insurance choice
Ever since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ABX1 1 stumbled just short of the finish line last January, he and his Democratic allies in the Legislature have been looking to move bits and pieces of the failed health reform plan forward. Amazingly, one that he favors is sponsored by the legislator who ...
California
Why Governor Schwarzenegger’s – and Organized Medicine’s – War on Choice in Health Insurance Will Backfire
Ever since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ABX1 1 stumbled just short of the finish line last January, he and his Democratic allies in the legislature have been looking to move bits and pieces of the failed health reform plan forward. Amazingly, one that he favors is sponsored by the legislator who ...
Commentary
Questions about a Blues For-Profit Conversion in New Jersey
New Jersey’s biggest health plan, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, has applied to the state to convert to for-profit status. As discussed by the Philadephia Inquirer, the state will likely require Horizon BCBS to disgorge its retained earnings into a charitable foundation that will fund expanded health care – as ...
It’s a “Wrap”: Brokers Harm Consumer-Driven Health Care
For months now, I’ve heard stories about a technique that insurance brokers use to sell health insurance to small businesses, which want the lower premiums that come with a consumer-directed health plan, but are nervous about convincing their employees to face a deductible of at least $2,200 for a family ...
California Tobacco Control Program Wants More Money
I have spent (undoubtedly too much) time today struggling with a new article from the tobacconistas at the University of California, San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, a group of scholars funded by tobacco taxes, which publishes research calling for more…..(you guessed it)…..tobacco taxes. But not only ...
New York Times’ Funny Math on Massachusetts Health Care
Only in government-run health care, or in the editorial offices of the New York Times, would it be considered a “success” to spend over $3 to solve a $1 problem. Dazzled by the lure of so-called “universal” health care, the NY Times editorial board enthuses that two thirds of the ...
Medical Malpractice Update in Wisconsin, W. Virginia, & New York
The Kaiser Daily Health Report gave us an update today on med-mal developments in three states. In West Virginia, the number of med-mal lawsuits increased by 34 percent over a three year period. It looks like a warning sign that something is unravelling since the Mountain State capped non-economic damages ...
The Promise of Telemedicine
The St. Louis (that’s the city Barack Obama he thought he was in a couple of days ago, before he figured out he was in Kansas City) Post-Dispatch ran a very positive article on the success of telemedicine in increasing quality and lowering health care costs. What impressed me was ...
Madness of Medi-Cal Dependency; Follies of Fiscal Federalism
California’s politicians have run our state into a $17 billion deficit. For months, the governor and legislature have been wrangling over how they’ll soak us to fill the hole. Although there’s little hope that they’ll shrink government spending in the long run, they had to stop the bleeding in the ...
Multilingual Mandate Madness
By July 1, California health plans had to complete a key phase in their compliance with SB-853, which compels them to provide translation services in whatever languages its members demand. California is still in the United States, so I’ll go out on a limb and guess that the majority of ...
The governor’s war on health insurance choice
Ever since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ABX1 1 stumbled just short of the finish line last January, he and his Democratic allies in the Legislature have been looking to move bits and pieces of the failed health reform plan forward. Amazingly, one that he favors is sponsored by the legislator who ...
Why Governor Schwarzenegger’s – and Organized Medicine’s – War on Choice in Health Insurance Will Backfire
Ever since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ABX1 1 stumbled just short of the finish line last January, he and his Democratic allies in the legislature have been looking to move bits and pieces of the failed health reform plan forward. Amazingly, one that he favors is sponsored by the legislator who ...
Questions about a Blues For-Profit Conversion in New Jersey
New Jersey’s biggest health plan, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, has applied to the state to convert to for-profit status. As discussed by the Philadephia Inquirer, the state will likely require Horizon BCBS to disgorge its retained earnings into a charitable foundation that will fund expanded health care – as ...
