David Williams
A centerpiece of the GOP’s agenda to “replace” ObamaCare is the appealing sounding notion of allowing insurance companies to sell plans across state lines.
There’s a good debate still to be held in this country on health reform, but only if the Republicans step up to the plate with serious ideas. I’m not that optimistic, but am not giving up hope yet.
Mobile asset management in the hospital is a great example of an unsexy but high-impact topic. In this interview, John McCarthy, GE Healthcare’s GM of Asset Management Professional Services, answers my questions.
Bryan Lawrence lays out the stark truth about Medicare: it’s a massive transfer of wealth from younger to older Americans.
Doctors are learning how to communicate more clearly with families about the prognosis for critically ill patients, yet even when they communicate clearly they can be frustrated that family members don’t seem to understand.
The belief that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is so well ingrained that it makes it easy to think we can solve our healthcare cost crisis the easy way, by increasing spending in one area to bring down costs in another.
Once upon a time going into medicine was one of the most sought after career paths, and for good reason. High income, lots of autonomy, little accountability, and plenty of respect were a lot to add to the opportunity to help people.
Under the Affordable Care Act, health plans have to issue rebates to policyholders if they don’t spend at least 80 or 85 percent of premiums on medical costs. Now that the law is in effect, about $1.3 billion is to be paid out.
According to Harvard Law professor Einer Elhauge, in 1790 the first Congress, which included 20 framers of the Constitution, passed a law mandating that shipowners purchase medical insurance for their seamen.
Older people are much more likely to vote. So it’s really no wonder that spending priorities in this country are biased toward the old, or that the biggest – and completely unfunded – spending boost for the old in the form of the Medicare Part D drug benefit occurred under the notionally conservative George W. Bush and a Republican Congress.