With news that a California State Senate committee rejected Governor Schwarzenegger's plan by a vote of 7-1, efforts to achieve health care reform this year have all but ended in our biggest state.Governor Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Nunez almost accomplished the impossible with a complexly...
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What President Bush Said in His 2008 State Of The Union Address About Health Care
See the prior post reviewing his 2007 speech. You won't be able to tell the difference between this year and last.President Bush's 2008 health care record will match his 2007 results--nothing was or will be accomplished.It is not surprising that a President in his last year would not launch any new...
What President Bush Said in His 2007 State Of The Union Address About Health Care
Here is what President Bush had to say about health care in his January 2007 State of the Union Address:A future of hope and opportunity requires that all our citizens have affordable and available health care. When it comes to health care, government has an obligation to care for the elderly, the...
A Detailed Analysis of the Romney Health Care Reform Plan
A Detailed Analysis of the Romney Health Care Reform PlanThis is a repost from October 22, 2007.Mitt Romney puts his faith in a reinvigorated health care market—not unlike his Republican rivals. But Romney puts a bit of a different spin on that by focusing on giving states the incentives to craft the...
The Lifetime Benefits Cap on Health Insurance Policies Often Needs Updating
In today's Washington Post, Chris Lee has a story about lifetime maximums in health insurance policies. Sometimes, these caps are as little as $1 million--particularly for individual health insurance polices.As health care policy goes, this is not a widespread issue. The number of people who incur...
"Strategies To Overcome and Prevent Obesity"--Important Policy Proposals
Taking the point in the effort to deal with obesity in America is the, "Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliannce." It is a broad-based coalition doing good works on this front.They recently sent me the following update on their activities and links to their work:As you know, America’s struggle...
The 15% Medicare Doc Cut and Medicare Advantage Payments--The Battle Has Begun Again
Key players in the Congress are voicing some optimism that they can fix the 10% reduction in Medicare physician fees that will occur on July 1 and the further 5% reduction that is on track to follow on January 1, 2009.It is not surprising that Democrats would be sounding optimistic this early in the...
Four Big Trends Toward Better Health Care Cost and Quality
Brian Klepper joins us again today and calls attention to four key trends in the marketplace, all targeted on improving both the cost and quality of care.Four Big Trendsby Brian KlepperSeveral events and trends emerged over the last year that will reverberate throughout the health care marketplace...
An Analysis of Senator Hillary Clinton's Health Plan Proposal
A Detailed Point by Point Analysis of Senator Clinton's Health Reform PlanThis is a repost of my October analysis of Senator Clinton's health care reform plan.This is nothing like the Clinton Health Plan from 1993.Senator Clinton has so far been running a smart campaign for President and her health...
"Health Wonk Review" Here At Health Policy and Marketplace Review
This week it's my turn to host Health Wonk Review. HWR is designed to highlight some of the best posts in the health blog world.What I found remarkable this time was the sheer number of thoughtful submissions. The number and quality of health care blogs continues to grow.It's a long, but terrific,...
Can You Really Mandate People To Buy Health Insurance?
That's not so much a policy question as a practical question and it is what Hillary Clinton seems to be saying is the big difference between her health care reform plan and the health reform plan of Barack Obama.That's why a news story this week out of Massachusetts caught my eye.It seems that the...
Medicare Advantage Cuts?
The highly profitable Medicare Advantage business is vulnerable to payment cuts to HMOs.Any of you that read this blog know that I have been predicting big changes for the Medicare Advantage business ever since the Democrats took control of the Congress--particularly for the controversial Private Fee-For-Service...
The Budget Outcome--Everything Was Decided and Nothing Was Decided
The Budget agreement, SCHIP, the Medicare Physician Fee Cut, and Medicare Advantage HMO payments.For months, I have been telling you four things:The federal budget impasse would be resolved because Democrats and Republicans weren't going to go home without their earmarks. In predicting the budget outcome...
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