health care reform

Already Angling for Berwick’s Replacement

The New York Times reports today that some members of Congress have offered an early seal of approval to a health care administrator who could succeed Medicare/Medicaid chief Don Berwick. According to the Times, Berwick’s deputy Marliyn Tavenner has emerged as a leading candidate to fill the post before or once Berwick recess appointment …

What’s an “Essential” Benefit?

Let’s get something out of the way.

The accusation that the Affordable Care Act will determine which medical treatments, procedures, tests and drugs Americans will be allowed to get is false. Rather, the government will continue to decide which services Medicare will reimburse for, while also deciding what care private insurers …

Should Wealth Determine Health?

Robert Pear of the New York Times today picks up an unsurprising, but important, new study showing that the recession has caused Americans to cut back on medical care far more than in countries with universal health care.

This is to be expected. In tough economic times, even health care costs are considered discretionary for …

National Politics and State Realities at Odds

Kevin Sack has an illuminating piece in the New York Times on the conundrum that politicians – especially Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats – face while trying to balance a fiercely partisan political climate against the woes of a sagging economy. Case in point: Medicaid, one of the most expensive programs in every state in the …

Alter’s New Book

The first draft of history is always going to be controversial, especially when it’s on something as touchy as health care reform – monstrous legislation the full effects of which we will not know for years to come. So it should probably come as no surprise that Jonathan Alter’s take on Barack Obama’s first year in the White …

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