Medicaid
California
What Now for California Health Care?
Last month the Senate health committee dumped the Schwarzenegger/Núñez Model ABX1 1, California’s trend-setting gadget for health-care repair. Senator Sheila Kuehl, who chairs that committee, tossed it for more personal reasons, other than the obvious $14-billion price tag and state budget deficit of similar size. Senator Kuehl wants to bring ...
Diana M. Ernst
February 13, 2008
Commentary
1 bad health plan dies; another looms
A real alternative to government control would be a system driven by consumer choice The state Senate Health Committee voted overwhelmingly last month to trash the universal health care plan promoted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez. Supporters of the plan, known as ABX1 1, murmured about ...
Diana M. Ernst
February 8, 2008
Commentary
Thrills, Chills and Hospital Bills: Maybe They’re Not So Crazy After All
The other day, I examined the pointlessness of a class-action lawsuit ordering Scripps Health hospitals in San Diego to give post facto discounts to uninsured patients who had been charged “too much”, even though most of them had not paid their bills anyway! Today, we learn the overall payment to ...
John R. Graham
February 5, 2008
Commentary
Losing by ‘Saving’
To help close New York’s $4.4 billion budget deficit, Gov. Spitzer has put prescription drugs on the chopping block. His budget proposal for the next fiscal year would axe drug spending by $172 million from the $1.9 billion otherwise expected. The governor describes this as a way “to control the ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 5, 2008
California
Healthy San Francisco raises costs for everyone
Two years ago, our family moved from San Francisco to Marin County, motivated partly by high prices in San Francisco restaurants. Now we mostly dine north of the Golden Gate Bridge and for 2008 we were prepared to give up on San Francisco entirely. The reason? San Francisco’s Health Access ...
John R. Graham
January 8, 2008
Commentary
Like Romney Before Him, Schwarzenegger Has Been Hoodwinked
Much as I hate to admit it, those of us who believe that patients should control the dollars spent on their health care do not hold the high ground in California. Actually, I think only the Endangered Species Act keeps us alive! The real “struggle” is between those who want ...
John R. Graham
January 2, 2008
What Now for California Health Care?
Last month the Senate health committee dumped the Schwarzenegger/Núñez Model ABX1 1, California’s trend-setting gadget for health-care repair. Senator Sheila Kuehl, who chairs that committee, tossed it for more personal reasons, other than the obvious $14-billion price tag and state budget deficit of similar size. Senator Kuehl wants to bring ...
1 bad health plan dies; another looms
A real alternative to government control would be a system driven by consumer choice The state Senate Health Committee voted overwhelmingly last month to trash the universal health care plan promoted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez. Supporters of the plan, known as ABX1 1, murmured about ...
Thrills, Chills and Hospital Bills: Maybe They’re Not So Crazy After All
The other day, I examined the pointlessness of a class-action lawsuit ordering Scripps Health hospitals in San Diego to give post facto discounts to uninsured patients who had been charged “too much”, even though most of them had not paid their bills anyway! Today, we learn the overall payment to ...
Losing by ‘Saving’
To help close New York’s $4.4 billion budget deficit, Gov. Spitzer has put prescription drugs on the chopping block. His budget proposal for the next fiscal year would axe drug spending by $172 million from the $1.9 billion otherwise expected. The governor describes this as a way “to control the ...
Healthy San Francisco raises costs for everyone
Two years ago, our family moved from San Francisco to Marin County, motivated partly by high prices in San Francisco restaurants. Now we mostly dine north of the Golden Gate Bridge and for 2008 we were prepared to give up on San Francisco entirely. The reason? San Francisco’s Health Access ...
Like Romney Before Him, Schwarzenegger Has Been Hoodwinked
Much as I hate to admit it, those of us who believe that patients should control the dollars spent on their health care do not hold the high ground in California. Actually, I think only the Endangered Species Act keeps us alive! The real “struggle” is between those who want ...