Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
This chart has been floating around the blog-o-sphere. Is Medicare the reason that healthcare spending in the US is so much higher than other developed countries? It turns out that this chart represents only federal government spending on healthcare. Medicare is certainly one of the contributing factors for why the U.S. spends more on healthcare than…
Maryland is a unique state for Hospitals. Since 1977, Maryland’s Health Services Cost Review Commission sets payment rates for all hospitals regardless of the payer. This approach is only feasible because Maryland receives a federal waiver that exempts its hospitals from national Medicare and state Medicaid fee schedules. Just as Medicare has begun implementing its…
What is it great for? Censorship. A book called The Pirate Organization quotes a spokesperson for an intellectual property lobby in Denmark: Child pornography is great! It is great because politicians understand child pornography. By playing that card, we can get them to act, and start blocking sites. And once they have done that we can…
Check out the latest edition of the Cavalcade of Risk at the Insurance Regulator Law Blog. It even gives tips on how to avoid the risk of an apocolypse.
The answer is not clear. The key driver of increased cost to California are the broadening eligibility standards for Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in California). Although California recently passed a proposition to increase taxes, California still faces a shortfall of $1.9 billion for fiscal year 2013-14.The L.A. Times reports that ACA cost estimates have varied widely…
Many liberals laud Europe’s government-run health care sectors as a model to emulate. In particular, Great Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) often is seen as the ideal single payer system. In reality, however, the British government itself does not supply all services. A study from the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) describes the gradual…
The BBC gives 10 tips to stay healthy over the Christmas holiday. Five tips in particular to pay attention to include: Do not wash your turkey before cooking. Inspect your Christmas tree lights Monitor tea lights to prevent fires Drive safely to your Christmas parties Watch the kids. Makes sure they do not swallow tree…
Do you work at New York-Presbyterian in Manhattan? Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston? Both these hospitals, with large market shares in their cities, will see their Medicare payments reduced through the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) program. If you work at Cleveland Clinic or Intermountain Medical Center in Utah, on the other hand, Medicare will be…
Ignorance of free care. What is the fiscal cliff? Does treating Medicaid patients scare off the commercially-insured? Messi’s 2012 goals. Why its difficult to cut Medicare benefits.
Julie Ferguson of Workers Comp Insider posts the latest edition of the Health Wonk Review, filled high-quality content and even animation to get you into the holiday spirit.