It's Time to Get Outraged
05 July 11
ne of my favorite bumper stickers reads, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."That's sort of how I feel about the healthcare debate. If more Americans paid attention to the fate of neighbors and loved ones who have fallen victim to the cruel dysfunction of our healthcare system, they would see through the onslaught of lies and propaganda perpetrated by special interests profiting from the status quo.
First Study of Its Kind Shows Benefits of Providing Medical Insurance to Poor
By GINA KOLATA
When poor people are given medical insurance, they not only find regular doctors and see doctors more often but they also feel better, are less depressed and are better able to maintain financial stability, according to a new, large-scale study that provides the first rigorously controlled assessment of the impact of Medicaid.
While the findings may seem obvious, health economists and policy makers have long questioned whether it would make any difference to provide health insurance to poor people.
Blue Cross to refund CEO’s exit pay to clients
But Killingsworth will keep his $4.2m
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, seeking to close the book on its widely criticized $11 million payout to former chief executive Cleve L. Killingsworth, yesterday said it will refund $4.2 million to customers, an amount equal to the severance portion of Killingsworth’s pay package.
http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2011/07/07/blue_cross_to_refund_ceos_42m_exit_pay_to_customers/
Medicare and Medicaid chief in race against time
By Amy Goldstein,
Don Berwick, the administrator in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, was having dinner in Dupont Circle not long ago with five of his predecessors when the conversation veered to how long he could keep his job.
In the realms of health care, his is a pivotal role: overseeing two entitlement programs that insure nearly one in three Americans, sheperding the profound insurance changes spurred by the new health-care law and serving as chief cheerleader for better care at lower cost.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2011
The Awful Dichotomy Between Health Care Politics and Policy
Amy Goldstein has an important article in today’s Washington Post detailing the place Don Berwick, the Medicare and Medicaid administrator, finds himself in.
It is all but certain he will have to leave his post at year’s end, when his recess appointment expires, because the Senate will not confirm him for a lack of Republican support.
It is all but certain he will have to leave his post at year’s end, when his recess appointment expires, because the Senate will not confirm him for a lack of Republican support.
Many U.S. heart stents inappropriate: study
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - One in eight U.S. patients who have non-emergency stenting procedures to clear blocked arteries in the heart are likely to see more harm than good from the procedure, researchers said Tuesday.
The findings stoke concern about overuse of the invasive treatment, which costs the nation some $12 billion a year and offers few benefits over drug therapy unless the patient has suffered a heart attack.
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