In the News

IN THE NEWS: Bloggers on Baucus

Paul Testa — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:35:00 -0500

There's nothing bloggers love more than a white paper. Like a new season of Top Chef, the release of Senator Max Baucus's blueprint for health reform on Wednesday has set the blogosphere a flutter.

Earlier today, Len Nichols, the director of the health policy program at New America Foundation, offered his insights own our blog here. Len focuses on how original elements in the Baucus plan, combined with some of the basic reform building blocks that are widely appreciated, could advance the goal of achieving bipartisan support for comprehensive reform. The piece is cross posted on the National Journal's Health Care Experts blog, which features posts from some major players in health care including the AMA and AHA, all of which are fairly complimentary of the plan and optimistic about health reforms place on the agenda going forward.

Here's a round-up of some of the other first-takes and reactions to the Baucus plan:

The Politico's Ben Smith's picks up the response from President-elect Barack Obama's camp: "President-elect Obama applauds Chairman Baucus's work to draw attention to the challenges of the health system and looks forward to working closely with the Chairman and other Congressional leaders, as well as the American public, to make quality, affordable health care a reality for all Americans."
In a press release Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) says: "Senator Baucus's white paper is a major contribution to the debate on health reform. It provides an important analysis of the urgent need for significant improvements in our health care system, and thoughtful recommendations for reform. I look forward to working with Senator Baucus, our colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle, and the Obama Administration to see that we at last achieve the goal of quality, affordable health care for all Americans. Senator Baucus's white paper brings us closer to that goal."
The SEIU, Health Care For America Now, and Families USA also offer praise.
The New York Times' Paul Krugman is excited by the plan and says "There's now a reasonable chance that universal health care will be enacted next year!"
The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog calls the plan: "another sign that the economic crisis may not delay the Democrats' push for ambitious health reform."
With eight posts on the Baucus plan, we haven't seen The American Prospect's Ezra Klein this excited since he found a good recipe for huevos rancheros. Ezra attended the press conference, and reacts first to the plan's policies and then, its politics.
The Health Care Blog's Sarah Arnquist writes on the inclusion of an individual mandate in the plan and notes "opponents realized that if they wanted community rating and guaranteed issue the mandate was necessary."
In a two part post (one, two), HealthBeat's Maggie Maher praises Baucus for his candor in laying out the issues in a comprehensive manner and notes, "The individual mandate is necessary because Baucus is barring insurers from charging higher premiums or denying coverage outright to people with pre-existing conditions."
Kevin MD writes on the plan's focus primary care and concludes, "If this plan is the foundation for future legislation, it is reassuring to know that primary care will be the centerpiece of reform."
Writing on Baucus decisions to put the employer tax exclusion for health care on the table, the Wonk Room's Igor Volsky notes: "Baucus pairs employee-tax tweaks with market reforms that would increase access to group coverage.
Also writing on the tax exclusion, Howard Gleckman at Tax Vox says that "done right, scaling back the exclusion can greatly enhance our current system of insurance."

As always, we'll keep you updated and check back next Wednesday for a summary of the Senate Finance hearing, "Health Care Reform: An Economic Perspective".

IN THE NEWS: Health Wonk Review @ Colorado Health Insurance Insider

Paul Testa — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:48:00 -0500

Louise Norris hosts the latest Health Wonk Review over at Colorado Health Insurance Insider. This edition features a post by New America's health policy director Len Nichols looking at the need for bipartisanship in the coming debate on health reform. Nichols argues that no matter what proposalsend up on the table, they needs to work all Americans, not just the blue states or the red states. Check it out!

IN THE NEWS: Health Wonk Review @ HealthBlawg

Paul Testa — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:55:00 -0400

David Harlow hosts the latest Health Wonk Review over a his health care law blog, HealthBlawg. This edition features an interview our colleague Joanne Kenen did with Geisinger CEO Glenn Steele about how other health systems and hospitals might follow Geisinger's innovations and example. Check it out!

IN THE NEWS: Health Wonk Review @ Managed Care Matters

Paul Testa — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:08:00 -0400

Joe "the Wonk, not the Plumber," Paduda hosts the latest Health Wonk Review over at Managed Care Matters. This edition features a post by New America's health policy director Len Nichols looking encouraging moments for health reform from the second of the three presidential debates. Len addresses in particular the impact of allowing people to buy health insurance across state lines. Check it out!

IN THE NEWS: Health Wonk Review @ Healthcare Economist

Paul Testa — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:41:00 -0400

Jason Shafrin gives you 700 billion reasons to read the latest bailout themed edition of Health Wonk Review over at the Healthcare Economist. Check it out!

IN THE NEWS: Health Wonk Review @ Disease Management Care Blog

Paul Testa — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:15:00 -0400

Jaan Sidorov hosts the latest edition of Health Wonk Review over at his Disease Management Care Blog. Our posts on California's reform debates and innovations in doctors' practices are included., as well as a piece by Merrill Goozner quoting our colleague Julie Barnes on payment reform. Check it out.

IN THE NEWS: Health Wonk Review @ InsureBlog

Paul Testa — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:56:00 -0400

InsureBlog's Hank Stern has posted the latest edition of Health Wonk Review—a biweekly compendium of the best the health policy blogosphere has to offer. Check it out.

IN THE NEWS: Health Wonk Review@Workers Comp Insider

Joanne Kenen — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:02:00 -0400

Workers Comp Insider hosts the latest edition of Health Wonk Review, including a post by New America's Len Nichols. Len wrote about how journalists are covering some aspects of the health reform debate, but they aren't addressing some of the confusion about the proposals to cap or scrap the income tax exclusion. Take a look.

IN THE NEWS: Health Wonk Review @ Disease Management Care Blog

Tom Emswiler — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:09:00 -0400

Physician-consultant Jaan Sidorov has the latest edition of Health Wonk Review published over at his Disease Management Care Blog. I wish to humbly highlight that Jaan has linked to my piece on the Premier Hospital Demostration.

If you've never read it before, Health Wonk Review is the hippest biweekly health policy digest this side of diagnosis related groups. Highly recommended.

IN THE NEWS: Latest Health Wonk Review Up at Health Affairs Blog

Paul Testa — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:57:00 -0400

Jane Hiebert-White over at the Health Affairs Blog has posted the latest round of Health Wonk Review focusing on "health reform, the effect of health services research on policy making, and on improving information for health care consumers." The review features a post on patient mapping from our own Joanne Kenen.