Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Public Health;  IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 27 Aug 2008 - 8:00 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.

Louise of Colorado Health Insurance Insider identifies aspects of health savings accounts she finds positive but notes, "tax breaks for health care expenses shouldn't be limited to those who have the means to fund an HSA."

Brian Rosman of Health Care for All's A Healthy Blog writes that costs attributed to Massachusetts' health insurance regulations are much smaller when estimated costs of federal regulations are subtracted and required benefits are compared with what self-funded employers offer, in response to a memo (here) by the Heartland Institute that says the state's rising health insurance costs are due to the state's mandated regulations.

Henry Aaron on the Health Affairs Blog discusses new estimates of the cost of covering the uninsured and provides an overview of the presidential candidates' different approaches to health reform, saying the "modest" cost increase says "little about the political and economic obstacles that must be overcome to achieve it."

Niko Karvounis of the Century Foundation's Health Beat blog discusses Massachusetts' unique challenges to reducing health costs, saying, "care in Massachusetts is extremely expensive, thanks to supply-side factors -- which means expanding and sustaining full coverage is, fiscally speaking, a tough proposition."

The Health Care Blog's Craig Stoltz revisits presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden's (Del.) health plan, which he calls "not that different" from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama's (Ill.), and says could indicate what's "likely to be magnified" in the campaign.

Jason Shafrin of the Healthcare Economist writes that "individuals who have emergencies will receive even worse care than before" if CMS withholds federal funding for certain poorly performing hospitals because, unlike many market goods, some hospitals are the sole source for emergency care and face little or no competition.

Joanne Kenen from the New America Foundation's New Health Dialogue discusses a roundtable and accompanying editorial on health reform sponsored by the New England Journal of Medicine, noting, "the speakers were not completely optimistic about comprehensive reform coming forth from Washington, but they did recognize that 2009 might still be a catalyst for positive change," and that the editorial calls for academics to "get serious about how to address the costs."

Don McCanne of the Physicians for a National Health Program blog lists some unintended consequences of legislation allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance longer and while he notes that the benefits are "greater than the deficiencies," similar legislation "cannot begin to compensate for the persistent deterioration in coverage that continues to plague us."

David Wessel on the Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog reports on Nobel prize-winning economist Robert Fogel's recent comment that "Public policy ought not be aimed at depressing demand for health," because it reflects increasing wealth and productivity gains for other necessities.

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.

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