Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance;  Public Health
Article Date: 05 Nov 2008 - 5:00 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.

Igor Volsky on the Center for American Progress Action Fund's Wonk Room blog provides a roundup of health-related ballot initiatives around the nation.

Judith Graham of the Chicago Tribune's Triage discusses changes in Medicare prescription drug plans and what they mean for low-income individuals receiving subsidies.

Jenny Sullivan on Families USA's Stand Up for Health Care points to new briefs examining the demographics of uninsured children in the states, saying, "Medicaid and CHIP are an essential source of quality, affordable care for these hard-working families."

Health Populi's Jane Sarasohn-Kahn discusses McCain and Obama voters' differing opinions about health reform and health care as a priority based on survey data in a New England Journal of Medicine article.

Managed Care Matters' Joe Paduda looks at news that Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) might be crafting health reform legislation, saying that although it is "impossible to know," Paduda predicts a Kennedy plan would allow anyone to buy into Medicare, create a minimum set of benefits insurers must provide and prohibit medical underwriting.

Marilyn Werber Serafini of the National Journal's Health Care Expert Blog asks, "How do you see the outcome of the presidential election changing the health care reform debate? Or, how will the congressional elections' outcome affect it?" Responses follow from Stuart Butler, Newt Gingrich, John Goodman and Donna Shalala.

Yuval Levin on the National Review Online's The Corner writes that the question of whether health care should be seen as a right is part of a "long line of efforts to turn the health care debate into a matter of pure ethics, so that the immense practical problems with government-financed or government-run health care don't have to be considered." Levin describes two schools of thought -- emphasizing the market versus more government involvement -- and continues, "There are many good and intelligent people in both camps, and there are many in between as well. But their dispute is a practical and largely economic one."

Joanne Kenen on the New America Foundation's New Health Dialogue discusses a new book by the Center for American Progress and the Institute on Medicine as a Profession about improving the health care system through overhauling health care delivery.

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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