John R. Graham
Commentary
Arizona’s Addiction to Unhealthy Government Handouts
I wonder why the Wall Street Journal insists on running op-eds that are sure to infuriate its loyal readers (like myself). This morning, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano trotted out the tired old argument that President Bush is unfairly tightening the screws on states’ social programs, especially state children’s health insurance ...
California
California Benefits Mandate Mania: 85,000 To Lose Health Insurance
What is the point of passing a law that requires independent analyses of the costs of mandating which benefits health plans must cover, if the lawmakers are then free to ignore the results of the independent analyses? The California Legislature is considering ten bills mandating benefits that will cost $2.7 ...
Commentary
Health Plan Oversight: Will That Be One Regulator, or Two?
California’s health plans have the pleasure of two regulators, whereas other states have to make do with one. If you are a “health service plan” (generally Health Maintenance Organizations and some other forms of health plan), you are regulated by the Department of Managed Health Care. If you write “disability ...
Commentary
California’s Physicians: Do They Know Who Their Customers Are?
No sooner had I wondered at the CMA’s short-sighted and self-destructive sponsorship of a bill that would reduce competition in health insurance, than I see that they are sponsoring yet another bill that will further degrade the physician-patient relationship. A little background: Since 1994 it has been illegal in California ...
Commentary
Massachusetts Health Reform: Can the Last Smoker Cover the Last Uninsured Bay Stater?
The Boston Globe ran a story about the 2nd anniversary of former Governor Romney’s signing Chapter 58, the landmark Massachusetts health “reform”, which resulted in a joint individual and employer mandate to purchase insurance. According to the Globe, it’s still a “work in progress.” What “progress” remains to be done? ...
California
California’s Physicians: Do They Know Who the Enemy Is?
The California Medical Association is supporting a bill that will reduce competition amongst the state’s health plans, which will have the secondary effect of reducing doctors’ negotiating position with respect to health plans and, therefore, likely lower physicians’ remuneration. How’s that for short-sighted? The CMA has been duped by state ...
California
California Legislature About to Jack Up Rates on Individual Health Insurance
The California Assembly health committee has just voted thumbs-up to two bills that will increase the cost of individually purchased health insurance in the Golden State. Probably the least harmful is AB 2459, which prevents a health plan from rescinding an individual health policy six months after enrolling an individual, ...
Commentary
The Uninsured Are Not Causing the ER “Crisis”
When it comes to arguments for “universal” health care in America, the hardest myth to kill seems to be the one that goes like this: “Uninsured people do not have access to primary care physicians. Therefore, they wait until their symptoms are severe, then go to the ER, and don’t ...
Commentary
Is Dr. Robert Jarvik Public Health Enemy Number 1?
There was quite an uproar when the politicians who decide what information Americans may or may not see attacked Pfizer for using a certain physician in its ad campaign for Lipitor, the popular anti-cholesterol pill. Remarkably, the spokesperson, Dr. Robert Jarvik, was the inventor of the first artificial heart. Apparently, ...
Commentary
Cost-Plus Medi-Cal Pricing in California’s Nursing Homes: What Were They Thinking?
Or, it might be more accurate to say, a deterioration in care, but I think there are other variables at work here that the research might not have analysed. The research in question is a 100-page study of the consequences of AB-1629, a 2004 California law that changed how Medi-Cal ...
Arizona’s Addiction to Unhealthy Government Handouts
I wonder why the Wall Street Journal insists on running op-eds that are sure to infuriate its loyal readers (like myself). This morning, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano trotted out the tired old argument that President Bush is unfairly tightening the screws on states’ social programs, especially state children’s health insurance ...
California Benefits Mandate Mania: 85,000 To Lose Health Insurance
What is the point of passing a law that requires independent analyses of the costs of mandating which benefits health plans must cover, if the lawmakers are then free to ignore the results of the independent analyses? The California Legislature is considering ten bills mandating benefits that will cost $2.7 ...
Health Plan Oversight: Will That Be One Regulator, or Two?
California’s health plans have the pleasure of two regulators, whereas other states have to make do with one. If you are a “health service plan” (generally Health Maintenance Organizations and some other forms of health plan), you are regulated by the Department of Managed Health Care. If you write “disability ...
California’s Physicians: Do They Know Who Their Customers Are?
No sooner had I wondered at the CMA’s short-sighted and self-destructive sponsorship of a bill that would reduce competition in health insurance, than I see that they are sponsoring yet another bill that will further degrade the physician-patient relationship. A little background: Since 1994 it has been illegal in California ...
Massachusetts Health Reform: Can the Last Smoker Cover the Last Uninsured Bay Stater?
The Boston Globe ran a story about the 2nd anniversary of former Governor Romney’s signing Chapter 58, the landmark Massachusetts health “reform”, which resulted in a joint individual and employer mandate to purchase insurance. According to the Globe, it’s still a “work in progress.” What “progress” remains to be done? ...
California’s Physicians: Do They Know Who the Enemy Is?
The California Medical Association is supporting a bill that will reduce competition amongst the state’s health plans, which will have the secondary effect of reducing doctors’ negotiating position with respect to health plans and, therefore, likely lower physicians’ remuneration. How’s that for short-sighted? The CMA has been duped by state ...
California Legislature About to Jack Up Rates on Individual Health Insurance
The California Assembly health committee has just voted thumbs-up to two bills that will increase the cost of individually purchased health insurance in the Golden State. Probably the least harmful is AB 2459, which prevents a health plan from rescinding an individual health policy six months after enrolling an individual, ...
The Uninsured Are Not Causing the ER “Crisis”
When it comes to arguments for “universal” health care in America, the hardest myth to kill seems to be the one that goes like this: “Uninsured people do not have access to primary care physicians. Therefore, they wait until their symptoms are severe, then go to the ER, and don’t ...
Is Dr. Robert Jarvik Public Health Enemy Number 1?
There was quite an uproar when the politicians who decide what information Americans may or may not see attacked Pfizer for using a certain physician in its ad campaign for Lipitor, the popular anti-cholesterol pill. Remarkably, the spokesperson, Dr. Robert Jarvik, was the inventor of the first artificial heart. Apparently, ...
Cost-Plus Medi-Cal Pricing in California’s Nursing Homes: What Were They Thinking?
Or, it might be more accurate to say, a deterioration in care, but I think there are other variables at work here that the research might not have analysed. The research in question is a 100-page study of the consequences of AB-1629, a 2004 California law that changed how Medi-Cal ...
