"Blog Watch" offers readers a roundup of
health policy-related blog posts.
The Altarum Institute`s Online Health Policy Forum features a post from J. James Rohack, president-elect of the American
Medical Association, where he says "health care reform will help jumpstart our economy." Rohack recommends other improvements to the health care system including changes to antitrust laws and tort reform.
Regina Herzlinger on The Atlantic`s Marc Ambinder`s blog says that Republicans should support universal coverage and recommends a plan similar to Switzerland`s health system, which she calls "consumer-directed universal coverage." Jonathan Cohn on the New Republic`s The Treatment responds, calling the piece "significant" but noting, "Far from the market utopia her rhetoric suggests, Switzerland`s insurance system is highly regulated."
Health Affairs bloggers John Iglehart and Chris Fleming expand on last week`s article about aviation safety as a model for health safety efforts by the group Public Private Partnership to Promote Patient Safety, P5S.
Health Populi`s Jane Sarasohn-Kahn looks at a BlueCross BlueShield Association survey that found savings from filling more
generic drug prescriptions and a campaign to encourage people to use generic options when available.
Bob Vineyard of Insure Blog looks at health reform in Massachusetts and whether it should be a model for national reform.
John Goodman on his eponymous blog looks at insurance reform proposals from University of Chicago professor John Cochrane.
John Harwood of the New York Times` Caucus blog interviews Dick Gephardt, who cautions against expanding coverage before controlling health care costs. The American Prospect`s Ezra Klein keys off of Gephardt`s cost concerns, saying that fighting over details of a health reform proposal is "like arguing over engine size and stereo system before you`ve figured out how to afford a new car." Igor Volsky of the Center for American Progress Action Fund`s Wonk Room looks at Gephardt`s support for expanding coverage in 2004 and says, "Containing health care costs is impossible without expanding coverage."
Catherine Rampell of the New York Times` Economix notes that the X Prize Foundation and WellPoint are offering a $10 million prize for new ideas in health reform.
James Capretta of New Atlantis` Diagnosis discusses an opinion piece by Ramesh Ponnuru and says, "I suspect the plan Ramesh outlines would go a long way toward providing coverage for everyone who wants insurance without making that the goal or building a heavy-handed government apparatus that would damage the quality of American health care over time."
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
