Posts All of our commentary in one spot. You can also browse by topics or search. 410 posts in this category Posts pagination Newer 1 … 20 21 22 23 24 … 41 Older “I was wrong” A Health Economist Acknowledges How Financing Experiments Failed Our Health System July 28, 2022 Summary: Imagine … A mainstream health economist apologizes for decades of promoting incremental health care financing reforms, each one failing as system performance deteriorated. He bemoans his repeated assurances that the latest nostrum could fix our broadly dysfunctional health insurance system. He endorses single payer. Value-based payment has produced little value. It needs a time-outSTAT […] Saving a Global Environment Conducive to Human Life is Job #1 July 26, 2022 Summary: Our human world faces two existential threats: nuclear war and global warming. Yet the public and elected officials fail to take climate devastation seriously. Health justice through financing reform has no meaning in the context of a destroyed world environment. Thus, job #1 is electing dedicated stewards of a human-amenable planet. Noam Chomsky: Humanity […] Dr. Glaucomflecken Doctor Visit in Another Country July 22, 2022 Summary: The unique tragedy of an expensive and ineffective US health system is summed up in a quick, hilarious sketch. Brilliant! Humor for social change is so powerful. Share widely. An American Experiences Universal HealthcareDr. GlaucomfleckenTwitterJuly 12, 2022 (2 minute video) Comment by: Jim Kahn So funny! I smile each time I listen. And, so […] Medicaid Coverage Does Not Assure Access to Care July 20, 2022 Summary: Coverage with Medicaid – health insurance for the poor – increased in recent years. But as a new study reveals for cancer, coverage does not guarantee access to cancer centers, due to low reimbursement rates, clunky administration, and narrow provider networks. These operational flaws are well-known and politically tolerated in Medicaid, despite the more […] Value-Based Care Will Bring Value to Shareholders July 18, 2022 Summary: Building on an inauspicious decade of failed efforts to improve care or save money for Medicare, value-based care is now the darling of CMS and scores of private companies involved in its latest incarnation, REACH. Health and equity rhetoric aside, it’s all about profits for investors. Greed dressed up to be presentable in public. […] Medicare REACH: Financial Incentives will Undermine Doctor-Patient Trust July 16, 2022 Summary: Hidden in the fine print of the REACH program launched by CMS to transform traditional fee-for-service Medicare we discover a pivotal, nasty feature: Physicians will share in the financial savings achieved by capitated contractors. This destroys more than 50 years of beneficiary confidence that doctors’ decisions are based on their best medical interests. ACO […] REACH Won’t Fix the Equity Harms of Value-Based Care July 13, 2022 Summary: A commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine by individuals consulting for huge health care companies argues that REACH, the new corporate-focused funding mechanism for traditional Medicare, will enhance equity. Their assertion is hype, with no evidence. Single payer would guarantee equity. “REACHing” for Equity—Moving from Regressive toward Progressive Value-Based PaymentNew England Journal […] US Health Insurance Cost-Sharing Benefits Insurers & Harms the Rest of Us July 11, 2022 Summary: A chief health officer and pediatrician at Indiana University speaks plain and powerful truth about growing insurance cost-sharing – it’s designed to reward insurers, to the health and financial detriment of the insured. What’s Wrong With Health Insurance? Deductibles Are Ridiculous, for StartersNew York TimesJuly 7, 2022By Aaron E. Carroll More than 100 million […] Oh So Many Problems with Medicare Advantage July 9, 2022 A news article reports on Congressional hearings on problems with Medicare Advantage. An academic article describes big challenges and valuable public benefits lost if traditional Medicare is replaced by Medicare Advantage. Our apologies for a longer-than-usual post … too many Medicare Advantage failings to review! Risk Adjustment Private Care Outsourcing in the UK Increases Mortality July 6, 2022 Summary: An important study in the United Kingdom finds that care contracting with for-profit companies sharply raises preventable mortality. Privatization with for-profit providers threatens health outcomes in the UK and, as we have argued before, in the US. Outsourcing health-care services to the private sector and treatable mortality rates in England, 2013–20: an observational study […] Posts pagination Newer 1 … 20 21 22 23 24 … 41 Older
