Boston.com Most Emailed
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said yesterday that her office has begun an investigation into the employment contract and severance package given to Cleve L. Killingsworth, former chief executive of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, by the board of the nonprofit health insurer.http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2011/03/03/ag_to_review_exit_pay_for_blue_cross_executive/
Letters to the editor, March 3, 2011
Controversy over public workers
George Will's recent column regarding the political protests in Wisconsin are a quintessential example of ideology masquerading as journalism.
Mr. Will describes the protests as an attempt to "repeal an election." While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was clear during the campaign regarding his intentions to cut spending, Will fails to mention that Wisconsin workers have already agreed to Walker's demands for economic concessions.
What the workers are protesting is Walker's post-election power play to take away collective bargaining rights that have been earned over decades of struggle. This blatant attempt to break the unions was never raised during the election campaign, and it is the issue at the heart of the present debate, yet Mr. Will deems it not even worthy of mention.
Mr. Will criticizes unions as interest groups organized to lobby for their own continued growth. He is at least half right here: Unions are interest groups, but their interest lies in preserving and furthering the dignity and rights of American workers.
This role has become even more crucial in the aftermath of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case, which allowed unlimited and anonymous corporate spending in political campaigns.
The effect of this travesty was made clear in the recent midterm elections; Scott Walker was one of the chief beneficiaries of the ruling, receiving considerable financial support from the billionaire Koch brothers and their special interest advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity.
Mr. Will's claims that the protests in Wisconsin were coordinated by national organizations. In truth, while unions across the nation eventually rallied to the cause in support of the Wisconsin workers, the initial protests were a bona-fide grass-roots expression of the outrage felt by workers across the state.
Mr. Will's pattern of telling only a portion of the story, while ignoring details that inconveniently conflict with his ideological agenda, exposes him as a partisan political hack. It also raises the question of why The Portland Press Herald continues to publish his column under the guise of serious journalism.
Bill Lundgren
Portland
Judge Stays Own Ruling Against Health Care Law
By KEVIN SACK
A federal judge in Florida stayed his own ruling against the Obama health care law on Thursday, allowing the act to be carried out as the case progresses through the Courts of Appeal and on to the Supreme Court.The judge, making evident his irritation with the Obama administration, sought to speed the process by conditioning the stay on the Justice Department’s pursuit of an expedited appeal, which he ordered filed within seven days.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/health/policy/04judge.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print
Boston.com Most Emailed
And now it comes down to Martha Coakley to stop the insanity, to prevent otherwise pretty good people from further embarrassing themselves in the health care debacle that has unfolded in Boston this week.Specifically, it came to light yesterday that the 18 members of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts board of directors are paid anywhere from $58,000 to $90,000 a year б nice work if you can get it, though вworkее is probably a stretch, given that itеs generally a meeting a month. Blue Cross is, of course, a nonprofit. That board just paid $8.6 million to the recently departed chief executive deemed unworthy of his job, with close to $3 million more to come.http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/04/such_healthy_pay_its_sick/
nytimes.com
Health Costs Soar, G.O.P. and Insurers Differ on Cause
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Workers at a circuit-board factory here just saw their health insurance premiums rise 20 percent. At Buddy Zaremba’s print shop nearby, the increase was 37 percent. And for engineers at the Woodland Design Group, they rose 43 percent.The new federal health care law may eventually “bend the cost curve” downward, as proponents argue. But for now, at many workplaces here, the rising cost of health care is prompting insurance premiums to skyrocket while coverage is shrinking.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/health/policy/05cost.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
BBoston.com Most Emailed
The stateеs second- and third-largest health insurers yesterday said they have called off merger talks after deciding that joining forces would be more difficult than anticipated and might not further their goal of improving medical care while reining in costs.The scuttled deal between Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan means they will continue to compete with each other, as well as with the market leader, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.вWe had two strong companies going into this, and we have two strong companies going out,ее James Roosevelt Jr., president and chief executive of the Watertown-based Tufts, said in an interview.https://www.readability.com/articles/yohffsar?legacy_bookmarklet=1
GLOBE EDITORIAL
Blue Cross at the trough
March 5, 2011
Text size – +BLUE CROSS Blue Shield of Massachusetts couldn’t have made a better case for a “public option’’ health plan than it did by granting an $11 million golden handshake to its former CEO. At a time when elected officials, hospitals, doctors, and insurers are all trying to hold down health-cost inflation, the pay, severance, and retirement money doled out to Cleve Killingsworth is an insult to well-meaning reformers: Why should those who treat patients receive lower reimbursments when even unimpressive suits like Killingsworth make out like bandits? Perhaps Blue Cross thinks it’s being prudent because Killingsworth’s payout fell short of the $16.4 million pocketed by his longer-serving predecessor as CEO, William Van Faasen.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2011/03/05/blue_cross_at_the_trough/
IF MASSACHUSETTS is the model, then national health care reform is ultimately doomed. That can be the only conclusion after this week’s news that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is in the homestretch of paying out nearly $28 million in retirement and severance pay in the last five years to its last two CEOs. Adding more insult to consumers, the curtain was pulled back on the incestuous way Massachusetts’ top health care providers pay board members tens of thousands of dollars. National nonprofit consultant BoardSource says just 3 percent of nonprofits pay board members an honorarium.https://www.readability.com/articles/ahwb2wyi?legacy_bookmarklet=1
latimes.com
Taking
Takilatimes.c
Taking a scalpel to the healthcare system -- latimes.com
Social Security now doles out more money in benefit checks than it takes in from taxes, and its trust fund is projected to run out of cash in about 26 years.So this is a good model for healthcare reform?https://www.readability.com/articles/nrzfon8j?legacy_bookmarklet=1
pressherald.comBill Nemitz: A pointed budget message hits the mark
Some might have looked at the long lines of people waiting to testify on Gov. Paul LePage's proposed budget and decided it wasn't worth it.After all, you can wait hours for your turn to speak.https://www.readability.com/articles/5jzhaopn?legacy_bookmarklet=1
Health care “unsustainability” a myth, report finds
Created Tuesday, March 1, 2011Public sector care stable, though problems loom in private health care sector
Canadian Doctors for Medicare
Press release, Feb 28, 2011
Toronto ‐ A new report on health care financing demonstrates that the widely repeated concern about the sustainability of public health are is unsubstantiated. Despite comments by Prime Ministers, Premiers, bank presidents and newspaper reporters suggesting that we are in a public health care financing crisis, the facts show that Medicare and public sector health care spending in general has grown little over the last 30 years and shos no signs of rapid future growth. The report, “Neat, Plausible and Wrong”, was released today by Canadian Doctors for Medicare (CDM) and draws on the full range of health care statistics to put the myth to rest.
http://www.pnhp.org/print/news/2011/march/health-care-“unsustainability”-a-myth-report-finds
ANALYSIS — A Canadian-Style Single-Payer Health System in Vermont?
Created Tuesday, March 1, 2011By Wendell Potter
The Center for Public Integrity, March 01, 2011
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Chances are you’ve never heard of Peter Shumlin, who last month was sworn in as the 81st governor or Vermont. That’s about to change. If Shumlin makes good on a signature campaign promise, he might end up as well-known and beloved in the United States as Tommy Douglas is in Canada.
OK, maybe you’ve never heard of Tommy Douglas, either. A former Baptist preacher and member of the Canadian parliament, Douglas is considered the father of Canada’s popular government-run medical insurance program.
If you’re surprised to learn that Canadians like that system, it’s probably because you’ve been convinced otherwise by a years-long propaganda campaign from American insurers — a campaign I used to help carry out as an industry PR executive.
http://www.pnhp.org/print/news/2011/march/analysis-—-a-canadian-style-single-payer-health-system-in-vermont
Boston.com Most Emailed
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said yesterday that her office has begun an investigation into the employment contract and severance package given to Cleve L. Killingsworth, former chief executive of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, by the board of the nonprofit health insurer.
http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2011/03/03/ag_to_review_exit_pay_for_blue_cross_executive/
Letters to the editor, March 3, 2011 |
Judge Stays Own Ruling Against Health Care Law
By KEVIN SACK
A federal judge in Florida stayed his own ruling against the Obama health care law on Thursday, allowing the act to be carried out as the case progresses through the Courts of Appeal and on to the Supreme Court.
The judge, making evident his irritation with the Obama administration, sought to speed the process by conditioning the stay on the Justice Department’s pursuit of an expedited appeal, which he ordered filed within seven days.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/health/policy/04judge.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print
Boston.com Most Emailed
And now it comes down to Martha Coakley to stop the insanity, to prevent otherwise pretty good people from further embarrassing themselves in the health care debacle that has unfolded in Boston this week.
Specifically, it came to light yesterday that the 18 members of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts board of directors are paid anywhere from $58,000 to $90,000 a year б nice work if you can get it, though вworkее is probably a stretch, given that itеs generally a meeting a month. Blue Cross is, of course, a nonprofit. That board just paid $8.6 million to the recently departed chief executive deemed unworthy of his job, with close to $3 million more to come.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/04/such_healthy_pay_its_sick/
nytimes.com
Health Costs Soar, G.O.P. and Insurers Differ on Cause
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Workers at a circuit-board factory here just saw their health insurance premiums rise 20 percent. At Buddy Zaremba’s print shop nearby, the increase was 37 percent. And for engineers at the Woodland Design Group, they rose 43 percent.
The new federal health care law may eventually “bend the cost curve” downward, as proponents argue. But for now, at many workplaces here, the rising cost of health care is prompting insurance premiums to skyrocket while coverage is shrinking.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/health/policy/05cost.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
BBoston.com Most Emailed
The stateеs second- and third-largest health insurers yesterday said they have called off merger talks after deciding that joining forces would be more difficult than anticipated and might not further their goal of improving medical care while reining in costs.
The scuttled deal between Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan means they will continue to compete with each other, as well as with the market leader, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
вWe had two strong companies going into this, and we have two strong companies going out,ее James Roosevelt Jr., president and chief executive of the Watertown-based Tufts, said in an interview.
https://www.readability.com/articles/yohffsar?legacy_bookmarklet=1
March 5, 2011
GLOBE EDITORIAL
Blue Cross at the trough
March 5, 2011
Text size – +
BLUE CROSS Blue Shield of Massachusetts couldn’t have made a better case for a “public option’’ health plan than it did by granting an $11 million golden handshake to its former CEO. At a time when elected officials, hospitals, doctors, and insurers are all trying to hold down health-cost inflation, the pay, severance, and retirement money doled out to Cleve Killingsworth is an insult to well-meaning reformers: Why should those who treat patients receive lower reimbursments when even unimpressive suits like Killingsworth make out like bandits? Perhaps Blue Cross thinks it’s being prudent because Killingsworth’s payout fell short of the $16.4 million pocketed by his longer-serving predecessor as CEO, William Van Faasen.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2011/03/05/blue_cross_at_the_trough/
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2011/03/05/blue_cross_at_the_trough/
IF MASSACHUSETTS is the model, then national health care reform is ultimately doomed. That can be the only conclusion after this week’s news that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is in the homestretch of paying out nearly $28 million in retirement and severance pay in the last five years to its last two CEOs. Adding more insult to consumers, the curtain was pulled back on the incestuous way Massachusetts’ top health care providers pay board members tens of thousands of dollars. National nonprofit consultant BoardSource says just 3 percent of nonprofits pay board members an honorarium.
https://www.readability.com/articles/ahwb2wyi?legacy_bookmarklet=1
latimes.com
Taking
Takilatimes.c
Taking a scalpel to the healthcare system -- latimes.com
Social Security now doles out more money in benefit checks than it takes in from taxes, and its trust fund is projected to run out of cash in about 26 years.
So this is a good model for healthcare reform?
https://www.readability.com/articles/nrzfon8j?legacy_bookmarklet=1
pressherald.com
Bill Nemitz: A pointed budget message hits the mark
Some might have looked at the long lines of people waiting to testify on Gov. Paul LePage's proposed budget and decided it wasn't worth it.
After all, you can wait hours for your turn to speak.
https://www.readability.com/articles/5jzhaopn?legacy_bookmarklet=1
Press release, Feb 28, 2011
Toronto ‐ A new report on health care financing demonstrates that the widely repeated concern about the sustainability of public health are is unsubstantiated. Despite comments by Prime Ministers, Premiers, bank presidents and newspaper reporters suggesting that we are in a public health care financing crisis, the facts show that Medicare and public sector health care spending in general has grown little over the last 30 years and shos no signs of rapid future growth. The report, “Neat, Plausible and Wrong”, was released today by Canadian Doctors for Medicare (CDM) and draws on the full range of health care statistics to put the myth to rest.
http://www.pnhp.org/print/news/2011/march/health-care-“unsustainability”-a-myth-report-finds
Health care “unsustainability” a myth, report finds
Created Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Public sector care stable, though problems loom in private health care sector
Canadian Doctors for MedicarePress release, Feb 28, 2011
Toronto ‐ A new report on health care financing demonstrates that the widely repeated concern about the sustainability of public health are is unsubstantiated. Despite comments by Prime Ministers, Premiers, bank presidents and newspaper reporters suggesting that we are in a public health care financing crisis, the facts show that Medicare and public sector health care spending in general has grown little over the last 30 years and shos no signs of rapid future growth. The report, “Neat, Plausible and Wrong”, was released today by Canadian Doctors for Medicare (CDM) and draws on the full range of health care statistics to put the myth to rest.
http://www.pnhp.org/print/news/2011/march/health-care-“unsustainability”-a-myth-report-finds
ANALYSIS — A Canadian-Style Single-Payer Health System in Vermont?
Created Tuesday, March 1, 2011
By Wendell Potter
The Center for Public Integrity, March 01, 2011
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Chances are you’ve never heard of Peter Shumlin, who last month was sworn in as the 81st governor or Vermont. That’s about to change. If Shumlin makes good on a signature campaign promise, he might end up as well-known and beloved in the United States as Tommy Douglas is in Canada.
OK, maybe you’ve never heard of Tommy Douglas, either. A former Baptist preacher and member of the Canadian parliament, Douglas is considered the father of Canada’s popular government-run medical insurance program.
If you’re surprised to learn that Canadians like that system, it’s probably because you’ve been convinced otherwise by a years-long propaganda campaign from American insurers — a campaign I used to help carry out as an industry PR executive.
http://www.pnhp.org/print/news/2011/march/analysis-—-a-canadian-style-single-payer-health-system-in-vermont
The Center for Public Integrity, March 01, 2011
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Chances are you’ve never heard of Peter Shumlin, who last month was sworn in as the 81st governor or Vermont. That’s about to change. If Shumlin makes good on a signature campaign promise, he might end up as well-known and beloved in the United States as Tommy Douglas is in Canada.
OK, maybe you’ve never heard of Tommy Douglas, either. A former Baptist preacher and member of the Canadian parliament, Douglas is considered the father of Canada’s popular government-run medical insurance program.
If you’re surprised to learn that Canadians like that system, it’s probably because you’ve been convinced otherwise by a years-long propaganda campaign from American insurers — a campaign I used to help carry out as an industry PR executive.
http://www.pnhp.org/print/news/2011/march/analysis-—-a-canadian-style-single-payer-health-system-in-vermont
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