Wednesday, December 23, 2009

How Will the Senate Bill Impact the Insurance Companies and Their Customers?

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How will the Senate bill impact health insurance companies and their customers? Even better, how will it impact a not-for-profit health plan...
Monday, December 21, 2009

The Senate Bill--Wall Street Likes It and the House Will Have To

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In morning trading HMO stocks are once again hitting 52-week highs with each of the major publicly traded plans up 3% to 6% from their Frida...
Saturday, December 19, 2009

Coal in Your Christmas Stocking?

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Is there anyone left, on either side of the political spectrum, who wants the Senate health care bill to pass? Republican Mississippi Govern...
Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Oh, Ease Up on Joe Already

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The Democratic rhetoric coming from Capitol Hill today beating on Joe Lieberman is, in the least, disingenuous. The public option has not be...
Friday, December 11, 2009

The Medicare Buy-In Is Dead--The Liberals Are Now the Swing Votes in Health Care

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The Medicare buy-in idea is dead. After Democratic Congressman Weiner's candid comment, “Never mind the camel’s nose, we’ve got his head...
Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Selling Insurance Across State Lines--Now the Dems Are Pushing the Idea--Why It Won't Work

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A favorite Republican health care soundbite calls for making the health insurance system more efficient by letting health plans sell across ...

Liberal Demands Over Giving Up the Public Option Threaten Health Care Deals

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I actually feel for Harry Reid this morning. He was on his way. He had mastered an incredibly fine balance in his health care bill. No it wa...
Monday, December 7, 2009

The Latest Version of the Public Option—The Democrats Could Have Saved Us Lot of Time If This is What They Call a “Public Option”

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If the latest version of the public option is something that will give its proponents reason to argue they still have a way to "make th...
Sunday, December 6, 2009

2009 a Year of Surprises and Change for the EHR Technology Market

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2009 a Year of Surprises and Change for the EHR Technology Market by DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER "Oft expectation fails, and most ...
Thursday, December 3, 2009

Good For Orszag--Budget Director Discusses Cost Containment in Dem Bills

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I was encouraged by remarks White House Budget chief Peter Orszag made in Washington yesterday. There has been substantial debate in recent ...
Monday, November 30, 2009

There Are Four Health Insurance Renewal Cycles and Two Elections Between Now and 2014—Could be Sort of Like a “Death By a Thousand Cuts” for the Dems

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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a report today saying that if the Reid bill becomes law the price of non group policies would b...
Sunday, November 29, 2009

The Senate Democratic Health Care Bill is a “Milestone” on the Road to Cost Containment—If It Is It's a Pretty Small One

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The Obama administration is reportedly pleased with a recent Ron Brownstein article in the Atlantic . In it Brownstein praises the Reid Sena...
Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Don't Rationalize Busting the Budget--Start Over

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I detect a growing rationalization among supporters of the Democratic health care bills: The recent flare-up over when a woman should have...
Monday, November 23, 2009

The Democratic Health Care Effort--A Political "Charge of the Light Brigade?"

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The latest polls are an unmitigated disaster for Democrats even as they're on a fast track to get their health care legislation passed. ...
Thursday, November 19, 2009

How Can Harry Reid Keep a Straight Face Telling Us His Health Bill Will Reduce the Deficit?

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The accounting gimmickry in Harry Reid’s Senate health bill is astounding even by Capitol Hill standards. Reid says his bill will cost $850 ...
Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Why Isn't the Press Talking About Affordability--For "Ordinary Folks"?

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I thought Trudy Lieberman hit the nail on the head in a post she did yesterday at the Columbia Journalism Review entitled, "Missing Pe...
Monday, November 16, 2009

The Outlook for a Health Care Bill in 2009

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Readers of this blog know of my yearlong pessimism over our getting a trillion dollar health care bill in 2009. With the historic passage of...
Friday, November 13, 2009

The End of the "Robust" Public Option and the Potential for "Robust" Cost Containment?

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Two things happened this week that in tandem have the potential to lead to a compromise over a health care bill. First, there are unconfirme...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The Best Health Care Idea All Year

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Out of almost nowhere has come momentum for a proposal to create a bipartisan entitlement and tax commission to draft proposals to control t...
Monday, November 9, 2009

The House Health Bill--Loading More People Onto the Titanic

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Our health care system is truly titanic, in more than one sense of the word. Not only is it huge, but it's also growing at unsustainable...