Health Care
Commentary
Calls to Inaction? Three New Books on Health Reform
During 2007, some new books on health reform offered the same old message of single-payer, government-monopoly health care. Others offered market-based solutions but, unfortunately, rely too much on “top-down” technical innovation instead of “bottom-up” consumer preference to improve American health care. Three books not only show the wide spectrum of ...
California
California’s Convenient Clinics: Some Win, Some Lose, All Change
The Sacramento Business Journal (subscribers only) has surveyed the “drop-in” clinics that have sprouted up around the state’s capital city in the last three years or so. It’s amazing what a diverse group they are! Sutter Express Care, owned by a large non-profit, hospital chain, has been hoping to use ...
Commentary
Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Connector’s Compliance Confusion
Advocates of so-called “universal” health care often cite the “fragmentation” of the status quo as reason enough to increase taxes and fines so that everybody has health insurance – whether we like what’s offered or not. And, they have a point: the employer-based health care system lets a lot of ...
Commentary
Forced health coverage unhealthy
In 1949, Pennsylvania became the first state to impose benefit mandates on health insurance, requiring plans to pay for osteopathy and dentistry services. It was a watershed event that led to a flood of legal requirements in other states. Unfortunately, it also laid the groundwork for today’s bloated health care ...
Commentary
Health 2.0: A Promising Prescription
Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) recent announcement that it is creating a home for personal health records online is a natural outgrowth of Silicon Valley’s Web 2.0 consumer Internet focus. The question this raises is whether a market-driven system is better for keeping health records than one run by the government. Groups ...
California
State should look east for affordable health insurance
One of Sacramento’s great laments is the number of Californians without health insurance. The predictable bad solution has been to propose billions in additional taxes. California has been spared so far from this counterintuitive, costly “solution.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators ought to look eastward for a better idea. But ...
Commentary
Innovation Incentives in Danger from Congress
U.S. patents have fostered American innovation ever since George Washington signed the first one in 1790. By protecting the rights of inventors, the patent system has spurred the development of everything from the light bulb to lifesaving medicines. You wouldn’t think Congress would want to mess with such a winning ...
Commentary
Piping a Different Tune
This journal continues its tradition of publishing hostile reviews about Harvard University professor Regina Herzlinger’s books with the one by Alan Maynard (Nov/Dec 07). After introducing her book, Who Killed Health Care: America’s $2 Trillion Medical Problem—and the Consumer-Driven Cure, by gratuitously attempting to stir controversy with another Harvard academic, ...
Commentary
States that Use SCHIP to Cover Adults Face Funding Shortfalls
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds states that use the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover adults are more prone to funding shortfalls than those that only cover children. Health care policy analysts say the report provides more evidence the SCHIP program is in need of extensive reform. ...
Commentary
Judge: San Francisco ‘Play or Pay’ Measure Violates Federal LawFunding Shortfalls
A U.S. district judge has ruled a controversial expansion of a city health care plan violates a federal law addressing government regulation of employee benefit plans. Judge Jeffrey White’s ruling halted the city of San Francisco’s attempt to expand its government health care program through a mandate requiring employers to ...
Calls to Inaction? Three New Books on Health Reform
During 2007, some new books on health reform offered the same old message of single-payer, government-monopoly health care. Others offered market-based solutions but, unfortunately, rely too much on “top-down” technical innovation instead of “bottom-up” consumer preference to improve American health care. Three books not only show the wide spectrum of ...
California’s Convenient Clinics: Some Win, Some Lose, All Change
The Sacramento Business Journal (subscribers only) has surveyed the “drop-in” clinics that have sprouted up around the state’s capital city in the last three years or so. It’s amazing what a diverse group they are! Sutter Express Care, owned by a large non-profit, hospital chain, has been hoping to use ...
Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Connector’s Compliance Confusion
Advocates of so-called “universal” health care often cite the “fragmentation” of the status quo as reason enough to increase taxes and fines so that everybody has health insurance – whether we like what’s offered or not. And, they have a point: the employer-based health care system lets a lot of ...
Forced health coverage unhealthy
In 1949, Pennsylvania became the first state to impose benefit mandates on health insurance, requiring plans to pay for osteopathy and dentistry services. It was a watershed event that led to a flood of legal requirements in other states. Unfortunately, it also laid the groundwork for today’s bloated health care ...
Health 2.0: A Promising Prescription
Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) recent announcement that it is creating a home for personal health records online is a natural outgrowth of Silicon Valley’s Web 2.0 consumer Internet focus. The question this raises is whether a market-driven system is better for keeping health records than one run by the government. Groups ...
State should look east for affordable health insurance
One of Sacramento’s great laments is the number of Californians without health insurance. The predictable bad solution has been to propose billions in additional taxes. California has been spared so far from this counterintuitive, costly “solution.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators ought to look eastward for a better idea. But ...
Innovation Incentives in Danger from Congress
U.S. patents have fostered American innovation ever since George Washington signed the first one in 1790. By protecting the rights of inventors, the patent system has spurred the development of everything from the light bulb to lifesaving medicines. You wouldn’t think Congress would want to mess with such a winning ...
Piping a Different Tune
This journal continues its tradition of publishing hostile reviews about Harvard University professor Regina Herzlinger’s books with the one by Alan Maynard (Nov/Dec 07). After introducing her book, Who Killed Health Care: America’s $2 Trillion Medical Problem—and the Consumer-Driven Cure, by gratuitously attempting to stir controversy with another Harvard academic, ...
States that Use SCHIP to Cover Adults Face Funding Shortfalls
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds states that use the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover adults are more prone to funding shortfalls than those that only cover children. Health care policy analysts say the report provides more evidence the SCHIP program is in need of extensive reform. ...
Judge: San Francisco ‘Play or Pay’ Measure Violates Federal LawFunding Shortfalls
A U.S. district judge has ruled a controversial expansion of a city health care plan violates a federal law addressing government regulation of employee benefit plans. Judge Jeffrey White’s ruling halted the city of San Francisco’s attempt to expand its government health care program through a mandate requiring employers to ...
