Health Care

California

California’s High-Risk Pool Is Not Working

California’s high-risk pool for medically uninsured residents, MRMIP, is in trouble – poorly funded and lots of eligible folks are on the waiting list to enrol – according to the Los Angeles Times. The article notes that other states, with more successful progams, assess levies on health plans to fund ...
Business & Economics

Product-Liability Law: Is “Pre-emption” the Right Question?

The media are (justifiably) interested in the Bush administration’s (or, if you prefer, the “Bush regime’s”) rushing a bunch of new rules into the Code of Federal Regulations that would “pre-empt” states’ product-liability laws. According to the Wall Street Journal, these rules “could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states.” ...
Commentary

SCHIP: Big Pharma Falls Into Line with Big Government

The Wall Street Journal confirms the depressing news that the brand-name pharmaceutical industry has been “collaborating” with advocates of a government take-over of health care. Apparently, it has given $13.2 million to an “astroturf” outfit, “America’s Agenda: Health Care for Kids”, to produce and run advertisements stroking 28 Congressmen (of ...
Business & Economics

Medical Lawsuits Put Health At Risk

On Nov. 3, a day before the election, the U.S. Supreme Court hears Wyeth v. Levine, a case with profound implications for the health of all Americans. In 2000, plaintiff Diane Levine was given Wyeth’s anti-nausea drug Phenergan, then on the market for 45 years. In rare instances, as the ...
California

Los Angeles Times’ Campaign for Government Health Care

Lisa Girion and Michael A. Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times have relieved themselves of a feature-focus of three stories about how awful private health plans are. They managed to interview key leaders of the campaign for government-mandated health insurance, such as Bruce Bodaken of Blue Shield of California and ...
Health Care

KQED – Health Dialogues: Health Care for All?

Health Dialogues: Health Care for All? With the 2008 presidential election just around the corner, it’s time to review the progress of universal health care. What do competing Democratic and Republican plans really mean? And what’s happening with Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan for universal health care coverage at the state level? ...
California

California Health Reform: The Myths Abide

The (usually more reliable) Riverside Press-Enterprise reported the proceedings of a conference, held over the last two days, which issued a dreary post-mortem on the Schwarzenegger-Nuñez California Health Care Deforminator ABX1-1. ABX1-1 was Governor Schwarzenegger’s and former Assembly Speaker Nuñez’s attempt to ram so-called “universal” health care down our throats ...
Drug Pricing

The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care: A Citizen’s Guide-1

SAN FRANCISCO – The Pacific Research Institute has just released The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care: A Citizen’s Guide. This is the latest book from health care scholar, and PRI President and CEO Sally C. Pipes. The book’s foreword is by Steve Forbes: “For anyone interested in getting ...
California

Californians Beware: “Healthy” San Francisco’s Tax Hikes May Be Coming Your Way

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger invested a lost year in health reform, allying himself with former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez in support of a bill to increase taxes and spending on government-mandated health care by more than $12 billion annually. Fortunately for Californians, the bill stalled in the Senate, and the state’s ...
Commentary

Even Blue Cross/Blue Shield Likes Consumer-Driven Health Care

The latest presentation from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) continues the steady drumbeat of positive data about the take-up of consumer-driven health plans (CDHP), which has reached (fingers crossed) its tipping point. It’s an outstanding presentation, prepared by Maureen Sullivan, senior VP at BCBSA (with whom I’m not ...
California

California’s High-Risk Pool Is Not Working

California’s high-risk pool for medically uninsured residents, MRMIP, is in trouble – poorly funded and lots of eligible folks are on the waiting list to enrol – according to the Los Angeles Times. The article notes that other states, with more successful progams, assess levies on health plans to fund ...
Business & Economics

Product-Liability Law: Is “Pre-emption” the Right Question?

The media are (justifiably) interested in the Bush administration’s (or, if you prefer, the “Bush regime’s”) rushing a bunch of new rules into the Code of Federal Regulations that would “pre-empt” states’ product-liability laws. According to the Wall Street Journal, these rules “could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states.” ...
Commentary

SCHIP: Big Pharma Falls Into Line with Big Government

The Wall Street Journal confirms the depressing news that the brand-name pharmaceutical industry has been “collaborating” with advocates of a government take-over of health care. Apparently, it has given $13.2 million to an “astroturf” outfit, “America’s Agenda: Health Care for Kids”, to produce and run advertisements stroking 28 Congressmen (of ...
Business & Economics

Medical Lawsuits Put Health At Risk

On Nov. 3, a day before the election, the U.S. Supreme Court hears Wyeth v. Levine, a case with profound implications for the health of all Americans. In 2000, plaintiff Diane Levine was given Wyeth’s anti-nausea drug Phenergan, then on the market for 45 years. In rare instances, as the ...
California

Los Angeles Times’ Campaign for Government Health Care

Lisa Girion and Michael A. Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times have relieved themselves of a feature-focus of three stories about how awful private health plans are. They managed to interview key leaders of the campaign for government-mandated health insurance, such as Bruce Bodaken of Blue Shield of California and ...
Health Care

KQED – Health Dialogues: Health Care for All?

Health Dialogues: Health Care for All? With the 2008 presidential election just around the corner, it’s time to review the progress of universal health care. What do competing Democratic and Republican plans really mean? And what’s happening with Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan for universal health care coverage at the state level? ...
California

California Health Reform: The Myths Abide

The (usually more reliable) Riverside Press-Enterprise reported the proceedings of a conference, held over the last two days, which issued a dreary post-mortem on the Schwarzenegger-Nuñez California Health Care Deforminator ABX1-1. ABX1-1 was Governor Schwarzenegger’s and former Assembly Speaker Nuñez’s attempt to ram so-called “universal” health care down our throats ...
Drug Pricing

The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care: A Citizen’s Guide-1

SAN FRANCISCO – The Pacific Research Institute has just released The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care: A Citizen’s Guide. This is the latest book from health care scholar, and PRI President and CEO Sally C. Pipes. The book’s foreword is by Steve Forbes: “For anyone interested in getting ...
California

Californians Beware: “Healthy” San Francisco’s Tax Hikes May Be Coming Your Way

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger invested a lost year in health reform, allying himself with former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez in support of a bill to increase taxes and spending on government-mandated health care by more than $12 billion annually. Fortunately for Californians, the bill stalled in the Senate, and the state’s ...
Commentary

Even Blue Cross/Blue Shield Likes Consumer-Driven Health Care

The latest presentation from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) continues the steady drumbeat of positive data about the take-up of consumer-driven health plans (CDHP), which has reached (fingers crossed) its tipping point. It’s an outstanding presentation, prepared by Maureen Sullivan, senior VP at BCBSA (with whom I’m not ...
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