Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 14 Jul 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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While mainstream news coverage is still a primary source of information for the latest in policy debates and the health care marketplace, online blogs have become a significant part of the media landscape, often presenting new perspectives on policy issues and drawing attention to under-reported topics. To provide complete coverage of health policy issues, the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report offers readers a window into the world of blogs in a roundup of health policy-related blog posts. "Blog Watch," published on Tuesdays and Fridays, tracks a wide range of blogs, providing a brief description and relevant links for highlighted posts.

Yuval Levin of The Corner points to a National Review Online article on the "pay-or-play" element of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama's (Ill.) health care plan, which he says "would create a serious new disincentive to hiring."

Louise from Colorado Health Insurance Insider discusses possible consequences of more people obtaining insurance through the individual market as an outcome of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) health plan and notes that "the individual health insurance industry would be in more of a public spotlight and might be forced to make some modifications to allow coverage for more people, with more fair pricing."

Maggie Mahar from the Century Foundation's Health Beat Blog discusses how physicians who have stopped accepting private insurance run their practices and charge for services.

Sarah Arnquist of The Health Care Blog discusses challenges to providing health care in rural communities.

Jason Shafrin of the Healthcare Economist discusses a California HealthCare Foundation issue brief that examines standardized labeling of insurance policies, saying that "having some sort of standardized disclosure form could aid consumers in shopping for the best deal."

Suzanne Curry from Health Care for All's A Healthy Blog discusses a dialogue between economist Uwe Reinhardt and Ulla Schmidt, the German minister of health, at a Brandeis panel on Germany's efforts to implement an individual mandate similar to the one in Massachusetts. A webcast of the panel is available online at kaisernetwork.org.

Health Populi's Jane Sarasohn-Kahn discusses a new Health Affairs study that found enrollees in high-deductible, consumer-directed health plans were more likely to forgo medical care to save money and says policymakers and employer plan designs should take people's responses to growing financial risk into consideration.

Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) on The Hill's Congress Blog discusses recent legislation that would halt a Medicare physician fee cut, saying that "whether they like it or not, Congressional leaders must ultimately face the challenges facing the Medicare program."

Managed Care Matters' Joe Paduda discusses a panel at a Center for Studying Health System Change conference that discussed what health insurers are doing to prepare for health reform scenarios. Some insurers are expanding into the individual market, which Paduda says "may seem like good preparation for a possible McCain-type plan, [but] examining the results of Part D may be more instructive." A webcast of the conference is available online at kaisernetwork.org.

Paul Testa of the New America Foundation's New Health Dialogue examines Paul Krugman's column in the New York Times that discusses the link between problems in health care and the economy.

Jacob Goldstein from the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog discusses why cuts to Medicare physician fees will continue to be a political issue. Bob Laszewski of Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review writes that doctors should consider new solutions for reimbursement problems because another Medicare physician fee cut of 21% is scheduled for 2010. Laszewski calls the fragmentation of the U.S. health care system "the heart" of physician reimbursement problems and suggests medical homes and other similar approaches as ways to meet goals of containing health costs and improving quality.

Several blogs wrote about Health Care for America Now, which launched a $40 million national advertising campaign on Tuesday that calls for access to comprehensive, affordable health care in the U.S. A selection of posts is below:

• Ezra Klein from The American Prospect;
  
  
• David Himmelstein from Physicians for a National Health Program Blog;
  
  
• Michael Falcone from the New York Times' Caucus Blog;
  
  
• Jonathan Cohn from The New Republic's The Plank; and
  
  
• Perry Bacon from the Washington Post's The Trail.

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.

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