A Selection Of Editorials And Opinions

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Medical Students / Training;  Public Health;  Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 26 Jun 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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A Lifeline For Primary Care The New England Journal of Medicine
Primary care in the United States needs a lifeline. In 2009, for the 12th straight year, the number of graduating U.S. medical students choosing primary care residencies reached dismally low levels (Bodenheimer, Grumbach and Berenson, 6/25).

The Drug Industry's Offer The New York Times
Before anyone gets too ecstatic, we will need a lot more details about what industry is giving up and what it is getting (Editorial, 6/25).

Government Health Plans Always Ration Care The Wall Street Journal
If these proposals are implemented and fail to produce savings, government will turn to a less appealing but more familiar tool to cut costs: the regulation of access to drugs and medical services (Gottlieb, 6/25).

Iowans Will Suffer Unless Doctors' Medicare Payments Are Fair The Des Moines Register
Expanding [Medicare and Medicaid] without changing the payment system could bring more problems if the expansion simply replaces private insurance (Kitchell, 6/25).

Calculating Insurance Interests The Boston Globe
The industry should be relieved that all Obama is threatening it with is a rival plan and not a SWAT team (Editorial, 6/25).

The Prescription From Obama's Own Doctor The New York Times
I hope President Obama tunes out the A.M.A. and reaches out instead to somebody to whom he's turned often for medical advice. That's Dr. David Scheiner, a Chicago internist who was Mr. Obama's doctor for more than two decades (Kristof, 6/25).

ObamaCare Isn't Inevitable The Wall Street Journal
To argue, as Mr. Obama does, that a government-run health-care plan can control costs better than a market-based system is a mistake (Rove, 6/25).

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.

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