Quiet your inner economist?

As Health Access California reminds us, tough economic times are often when sweeping government policies are enacted.    President-elect Obama has some tough choices to make.  Should he expand existing government programs to help those who are hurt by the economic crisis?  Or should he scale back these government programs to show some fiscal responsibility?…

Physicians on National Health Insurance

An Annals of Internal Medicine survey sheds some light on physicians opinions regarding universal health care. Overall 59% of physicians support national health insurance and 32% oppose it. Support for national health insurance increased 10 percentage points since 2002 (49%). Unsurprisingly, surgical subspecialties, anesthesiologists, and radiologists, were the only specialities where more than half of…

California’s Attempt at Universal Health Care

On Monday, the California Assembly passed a bill that mandates health insurance for all California’s citizens. The government will provide subsidies households with incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level. Those earning between 250 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level [FPL] would be able to deduct premium costs that exceed…