Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries

Main Category: Regulatory Affairs / Drug Approvals
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice;  Public Health;  IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 08 Apr 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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"Blog Watch" offers readers a roundup of health policy-related blog posts.

The American Prospect's Ezra Klein looks at different options Senate Democrats might attempt for budget reconciliation.

Michael Tanner of Cato@Liberty explains why he is "skeptical" of comparative effectiveness research, although he says that "we should not reflexively oppose" it.

Merrill Goozner of Gooz News discusses a letter from nine FDA staff members calling for the removal of some managers who the staffers say caved to political pressure or violated laws and guidelines.

Maggie Mahar of the Century Foundation's Health Beat Blog looks at a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report on the health of the U.S. population and discusses socio-economic factors that contribute to poor health.

Marilyn Werber Serafini of the National Journal's Health Care Expert Blog asks about possible consequences of health reform legislation for doctors. Responses follow from Stuart Butler, Karen Davis, Nancy Nielsen and Leonard Schaeffer.

Ramesh Ponnuru of the National Journal Online's The Corner points to an article on Democrats' rhetoric about costs and entitlement spending and says that "liberalism's preferred health care policies do not inevitably follow from the imperative of bringing health costs down."

Harold Pollack on the New Republic's The Treatment looks at signs of increasing support among physicians for health reform.

Uwe Reinhardt of the New York Times' Economix looks at a public plan option in health reform.

John Graham of the State Policy Network Blog looks at an article reporting that some hospitals are contacting patients before procedures to discuss costs because many patients now have consumer-directed health plans. Graham says this is "great news" because "hopefully, patients will start engaging hospitals, figuring out how to save money by discussing the costs of their procedures beforehand."

Rebecca Adelman on WhiteHouse.gov live-blogs about the regional health reform meeting in Los Angeles.

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