Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 27 Oct 2008 - 10:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

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.

The American Prospect's Ezra Klein (here and here) and Jonathan Cohn on the New Republic's The Plank exchange perspectives on employer-based health insurance. Klein writes that "the involvement of employers in the health care marketplace doesn't make policy sense," but "for now, the employers want to be there, and it's hard to move them." He suggests a number of reasons why that might be the case. Cohn argues that "the biggest issue" keeping employers involved in health insurance is "control," because they can now lower what they spend on health care by reducing benefits packages or shifting costs to workers.

Michael Cannon on Cato@Liberty discusses implementation of the Massachusetts requirement that most individuals obtain health coverage, writing, "Enforcing that 'individual mandate' requires state officials to define what counts as health insurance. And so goes residents' freedom to choose." Jason Shafrin at Healthcare Economist responds that a minimum benefits standard makes it "easier to decipher what health insurance benefits are included in your health insurance plan," which should reduce administrative costs.

Igor Volsky of the Center for American Progress Action Fund's Wonk Room points to a recent exchange between the economic advisers of presidential nominees Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and argues that "McCain's tax credits and Guaranteed Access Plan to cover uninsurables allows the government to redistribute the wealth to those who chose to purchase health coverage or the sickest Americans who can't afford or find plans in the unregulated individual market."

Maggie Mahar on the Century Foundation's Health Beat blog looks at the factors behind rising health care costs, noting that "while improved technology has boosted efficiency in other sectors of the economy, when it comes to health care, technological advances are associated with lower productivity." Unlike other countries, she writes, "in the U.S., those who produce new medical technologies set prices without much push-back."

Merrill Goozner on Gooz News looks at the effect of the recent stock market decline on health insurers. In addition, John Geyman on the Physicians for a National Health Program Blog says the current economic environment points to "the failures of deregulated markets," noting that "so far the private health insurance industry has not been called to account, but its day is coming soon."

David Williams on the Health Business Blog discusses a new study challenging the assumption that the uninsured use emergency departments for care to a greater extent than the insured. "The perception that the uninsured are clogging up emergency rooms is a dangerous one, not only because of the bias it represents against the less fortunate, but also because it drives incorrect policy assumptions," he writes.

Michael Miller on the Health Policy and Communications Blog reports on an event featuring a McCain health adviser and discusses McCain's proposal to change the tax treatment of health insurance, suggesting that employees would pay taxes on the "entire cost of their health insurance -- whether it was their contribution, or dollars coming from their employer."

Paul Testa on the New American Foundation's New Health Dialogue blog looks at Medicare's Physician Group Practice Demonstration program, which provides incentives for physicians to coordinate care and improve outcomes. "So far, the results are encouraging," he writes, adding, "You can accomplish a great deal in health reform just by getting the incentives right."

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.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation.  All rights reserved.