Posts All of our commentary in one spot. You can also browse by topics or search. 404 posts in this category Posts navigation Newer 1 2 3 4 … 41 Older The Pursuit of Single Payer: Toppling, or Tipping Point? August 26, 2024 November 2024 is thirty years after we lost California’s single payer ballot initiative. I look back at what has happened since, and see promise ahead. Public Opinion on Health Reform August 21, 2024 New polling in swing states on priorities for health care reform and related issues shows wide support for reducing the financial burdens of health care and for … wait … here it comes … Medicare for All. Project 2025 Health Policy Critique Redux August 15, 2024 Today I recap three recent HJM detailed critiques of Project 2025 health policy proposals. The goal is to provide maximally digestible and clarifying responses to this deeply problematic but often obscure agenda. There remains a fair amount of technical content. So, if you prefer, here’s a high-level summary: The Project 2025 health policy roadmap is designed to increase the role of for-profit insurers, place a greater burden on individuals to pay for care, and cut public funding for health care for the poor, seniors, and the disabled. This will mean more medical debt and bankruptcies, less access to care, and worse health. The plan also targets abortion access, even where legal. Or, more succinctly, perhaps social-media ready: Project 2025 will weaken Medicare for seniors and people with disabilities, Medicaid for the poor, and private insurance for everyone. Insurance companies will do just fine, with a big boost to profits. Cost-Sharing, Coverage Denials, Missed Care, & Medical Debt August 6, 2024 The Commonwealth Fund, a respected monitor of US health system performance, highlights how cost-sharing and coverage denials lead to widespread missed care and medical debt. The system is unfair and opaque. Administrative tweaks won’t resolve these problems for private insurance designed to benefit executives and shareholders at the expense of patients. Not-for-Profit Care Begets Profits July 29, 2024 In our profit-permeated health care system, even charitable care often covers for raking in massive profits and exorbitant CEO salaries. Medicare for All Prospects in a New Presidential Administration July 23, 2024 Medicare for All received partial and ambiguous endorsement in the past by one presidential candidate. The major challenge ahead is achieving overwhelming and irresistible public support for the pure single payer system we need. Three Crumbling Health Insurance Pillars July 19, 2024 Three recent stories remind us that fundamental pillars of successful health insurance – affordability, provider payment, and use of resources for care – are egregiously failing. Critiquing Project 2025: Medicare July 13, 2024 Project 2025 proposes building Medicare Advantage and value-based care, and an all-in focus on free market methods proven not to work in health care. It’s a recipe for increasing costs and maximizing profits for corporations. FTC: PBMs Inflate Drug Costs & Punish Local Pharmacies July 10, 2024 A landmark Federal Trade Commission report finds that pharmacy benefit managers – large corporations which control 90% of US prescriptions – routinely adopt aggressive business practices that increase costs for consumers and financially penalize local pharmacies. Critiquing Project 2025: Private Health Insurance July 7, 2024 Project 2025 proposes changes to private insurance that will remove important protections put in place by the Affordable Care Act. Posts navigation Newer 1 2 3 4 … 41 Older