Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail;  Primary Care / General Practice;  Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 23 Jul 2008 - 10:00 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.

Seth Michaels of the AFL-CIO's NOW Blog catalogues how liberal-leaning community organizations, experts and labor groups are using the "advantages" of the Internet to advocate health reform.

Peter Harbage from the Center for American Progress Action Fund's Wonk Room blog points to new a CAP analysis on cost-containment measures in the presidential candidates' health plans and says that "there is little evidence for [presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's (R)] claim that conservatives' health care reforms will address health care costs."

The Health Care Blog's Bob Watcher discusses factors contributing to primary care physician shortages in Massachusetts and says, "The primary care crisis has truly arrived."

Jason Shafrin of the Healthcare Economist summarizes four papers that examine how different forms of PCP compensation affect the quantity and quality of care.

Health Populi's Jane Sarasohn-Kahn discusses the positive and negative impact of the rising cost of oil on health and health care costs.

Managed Care Matters' Joe Paduda discusses problems with the individual health insurance market and McCain's proposal to expand it, saying, "If McCain has a solution to [these problems], he hasn't published it yet."

Elena Harman from the New America Foundation's New Health Dialogue reports on an Alliance for Health Reform event about nurse-led innovations in patient care and safety, saying that "maybe the best way to involve nurses in the health reform discussion is not to take them out of the clinical field, but to learn from their continual innovations in patient care and bring those lessons back to Washington." A webcast of the event is available online at kaisernetwork.org.

Paul Krugman of the New York Times discusses economist Tyler Cowen's recent opinion piece, in which Cowen recommends means-testing as a solution for controlling the rising costs of federal health programs, and concludes, "Means-testing isn't the answer; setting priorities for care is."

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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