We're bracing for the inevitable jokes: heard about the new jobs bill for lawyers? Health care reform.
Whether it's state governments’ attempt to preemptively block a federal individual mandate to purchase insurance, the creation of health courts to address medical malpractice woes, or legal immigrants in Massachusetts suing over coverage -- lawyers don’t need to worry about where their next meal is coming from.
We were struck, though, by the Massachusetts class action lawsuit challenging a state law that prohibits certain legal immigrants from accessing health insurance coverage available to citizens of the Commonwealth. Struck by the irony, that is, of how the one state in the union that has attempted to provide coverage for everyone is getting sued by a group that is not covered. What a contrast to the states like Virginia that are prepared to fight against having anyone force insurance coverage on their citizens through a mandate.
Much of 
We talk a lot about how health reform will place a bigger emphasis on preventative care, managing chronic conditions and paying providers based on the quality of care. So much of this means providing necessary medical screenings and diagnostic tests to improve the quality of care. But who will be charged with the task of screening us for cancer? Who will run the CBC (complete blood count) to help a doctor diagnose fatigue or an infection?
We posted an overview earlier this week of the recent 
As New America's health policy director Len Nichols likes to say, "If you don't have the personality to be a lawyer, you become an economist." Yet Len (our favorite health care economist) had the best personality in a room full of lawyers and Hill staffers at the recent Georgetown Law / O'Neill Institute's 
It is not every day the U.S. loses to the Dutch. Heck, even when our wooden-shod friends were favored in soccer over the U.S. in group play at the Olympics this summer, 
At this point, every American knows that there are millions among us who do not have health insurance. Sometimes, we talk to each other about what this means - the neighbor who puts off her mammogram because she can't afford it, the uncle who keeps not going to the dentist despite increasing pain, the eight- or nine-hour wait we had at the local emergency room that was overflowing with people who don't have access to preventative care.
Diners in San Francisco are finding something new on the menu of local eateries—health care—
We came to the National Press Club today ready for a debate on health care and entitlement reform. What we got was a lot of consensus on the serious challenge of health care cost growth and the need to do everything in our power to bend the cost curve. That, and an interesting bowl of gazpacho with chunks of watermelon in it….
I am guilty of going to work when I'm sick. I admit to workaholic tendencies, but the real reason that I choose to cough my way through a day is because, as a working mother, most of my lost work days are due to my kids' illnesses and doctor appointments. Many of us hard-working, competitive Americans have our reasons for this practice of showing up to work sick.
If you're a politician, you know you've hit the big time if a late night talk show host makes fun of you. Ditto for an issue -- it's big time if it makes the leap from think tank "Issue Brief" to a riff in a stand-up comedy routine. At the D.C. Improv the other night, it was pretty clear that the state of the American health care system has hit the big time. Jake Johannsen had the packed house doubled-over or nodding vigorously to a series of truisms about our broken system.
We had hoped to see progress in the Senate this week on the Wired for Health Care Quality Act, which would have given a big boost to the growth of health IT. Just last week, a reported agreement between Senators 
