Health policy and public health

4,357 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 101

High medical costs? Blame the insurance industry.

March 9, 2017Mar 9, 20177

After writing about the coming demise of the Affordable Care Act, I began to think, again, about why it costs so much to deliver health care in this country. If it were cheaper, legislation to make health care a right,…

Medical costs doubled every decade from 1960 through 2000. This happened in tandem …

Health policy

Obamacare cost Hillary the presidency

Keith Pochick, MD

March 9, 2017Mar 9, 201748

A month into Donald Trump’s presidency, it is clear we are in for a wild and dizzying ride. As is typical in matters of opinion, post-mortem analyses on how we got here are frequent and varied. However, I believe the…

A month into Donald Trump’s presidency, it is clear we are in for a wild and dizzying ride. As is typical in matters of opinion, post-mortem analyses on how we got here are frequent and varied.

However, I believe the Affordable Care Act was the iceberg which sunk Hillary Clinton’s ship. Sure, there were both real and fabricated scandals which dampened enthusiasm among potential Clinton voters. There were the emails. There …

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Obamacare cost Hillary the presidency

Health policy

Obamacare was poorly constructed. The Republican plan is worse.

Robert Laszewski

March 8, 2017Mar 8, 20176

It won't work. Obamacare works for the poorest that have affordable health insurance because all of the program's subsidies tilt in their favor. Obamacare doesn't work well for the working and middle class who get much less support -- particularly…

It won’t work.

Obamacare works for the poorest that have affordable health insurance because all of the program’s subsidies tilt in their favor.

Obamacare doesn’t work well for the working and middle class who get much less support — particularly those who earn more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level, who constitute 40 percent of the population and don’t get any help.

Because so many don’t do well under the law, …

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Health policy

A comprehensive health care redesign for the United States

Thomas Birch, MD

March 4, 2017Mar 4, 20176

I can envision a comprehensive design for health care in the United States that will expand access and control costs while conforming to our shared national values of personal responsibility, care for thy neighbor and free enterprise. After dozens of…

After dozens of attempts to repeal, defund, delay or restrict Obamacare, the Republicans now have the opportunity to do all of the above. The problem is that it is not clear what should be …

Health policy

The Obamacare generation of physicians is ready to fight for patients

Nuriel Moghavem

February 26, 2017Feb 26, 201721

I’m a member of the 25,000-strong medical school graduating class of Obamacare. We were pre-med college students during the debate over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and began medical school during its implementation. We put ourselves into deep debt and…

I’m a member of the 25,000-strong medical school graduating class of Obamacare.

We were pre-med college students during the debate over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and began medical school during its implementation. We put ourselves into deep debt and studied late into the night with the promise that we would practice medicine in a system that promoted insurance coverage, reduced medical bankruptcy, and incentivized high-quality care.

Increasingly, we see that promise …

Health policy

12 steps to make America’s health care great again

Michael F. Weisberg, MD

February 23, 2017Feb 23, 201721

America’s health care system is broken and no longer works. Many practicing physicians are unhappy with the way insurance companies control medicine. Most patients are unsatisfied with the benefits they receive from the health insurance companies and with the lack of choice they have in who cares for them. Patients are frustrated with the exorbitant cost of prescription medicine. They wonder why this system often doesn’t allow them to receive …

Physician voices

Who hates taxes? The answer isn’t what you think.

Peter Ubel, MD

February 18, 2017Feb 18, 201761

I was raised in a family that hates taxes. Not hates taxes as in, “Gosh, it’s too bad such a high percentage of my paycheck goes to the government.” More like: “How dare the government steal my hard-earned money and give it to undeserving moochers?” (Is there such a thing as a deserving moocher? Sorry, I digress.)

The origins of this anti-tax sentiment are deeply ideological, steeped in a frothy mix …

Health policy

Politicians can’t fix our health care system

Linda Girgis, MD

February 17, 2017Feb 17, 2017

Health care costs are out-of-control, and many patients can no longer afford medical treatment. The system is broken, but no real fixes are visible on the horizon. Sure, politicians debate the road health care should take and act like they are very concerned about the health of Americans. Truthfully, however, they are driven by political agendas corporate influence. Little discussion is given to what it would take to fix the …

Health policy

Here’s what’s really scary about Trump’s health care

Margalit Gur-Arie

February 14, 2017Feb 14, 201723

It has come to pass: President Donald J. Trump. Are you scared? Are you planning to “resist” the policies you imagine President Trump will pursue by tweeting furiously with clever hashtags galore? Would you prefer to move my fastidious quotation marks from “resist” to “President”? This is, after all, the first President in a very long time to take office without the blessings and financial support of established “world order” …

Health policy

Don’t repeal the ACA without a replacement

Andrew G. Lim & Anna E. Condino, MD, MPH & Paul W. Charlton, MD & Sabiha K. Barot, MD, PhD

February 9, 2017Feb 9, 20173

Whether rejoicing or mourning, millions of Americans awoke on January 21st feeling suddenly at the threshold of a new and uncertain era. However, in public safety-net emergency departments across the nation — like Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where we work — the service of healing continued seamlessly, paying no heed to the national drama that has unfolded for the past several months.

That day and into the night, there were …

Health policy

What the ACA replacement must have

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

February 7, 2017Feb 7, 20175

Eight years ago when the tumultuous health care reform journey began, we couldn't have imagined the roller-coaster ride it would take. The Affordable Care Act passing without a single Republican vote, surviving the Supreme Court ruling by the vote of…

Eight years ago when the tumultuous health care reform journey began, we couldn’t have imagined the roller-coaster ride it would take. The Affordable Care Act passing without a single Republican vote, surviving the Supreme Court ruling by the vote of a Republican-appointed judge, a disastrous roll-out of HealthCare.gov, thriving for four years with Obama’s re-election, and now its inevitable repeal with Donald Trump’s win.

So it may help to look back …

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What the ACA replacement must have

Health policy

What are the ethics of health care reform?

Kenneth Lin, MD

January 26, 2017Jan 26, 2017

It's been a rough past couple of months not only for millions of Americans whose health care futures depend on decisions to be made by the new Congress and the Trump administration but for those of us who teach about…

It’s been a rough past couple of months not only for millions of Americans whose health care futures depend on decisions to be made by the new Congress and the Trump administration but for those of us who teach about the U.S. health system for a living. As one health policy expert I follow tweeted only half-facetiously, on election night: “Dear students: all that stuff I taught you about the …

Health policy

Changes in the Affordable Care Act need to put patients first

Will Harper, MD

January 24, 2017Jan 24, 2017

The call came at 4:30 a.m. I answered when she called the second time, as I was too late to answer the first. “Dr. Harper. I think I need to go to the hospital. I just feel so weak.” It…

The call came at 4:30 a.m. I answered when she called the second time, as I was too late to answer the first. “Dr. Harper. I think I need to go to the hospital. I just feel so weak.”

It was Bessie, a patient I have known for over 15 years. She’s been struggling for a few week, and while we are working through this struggle, we are clearly not doing …

Physician voices

Dear Dr. Price: 5 suggestions for the new Health and Human Services secretary

Suneel Dhand, MD

January 24, 2017Jan 24, 201713

Dear Dr. Price, Congratulations on your upcoming appointment as the new Health and Human Services Secretary under President Trump. As a physician myself, it’s great to know that a fellow physician will head up the agency. I’m sure you understand…

Dear Dr. Price,

Congratulations on your upcoming appointment as the new Health and Human Services Secretary under President Trump. As a physician myself, it’s great to know that a fellow physician will head up the agency. I’m sure you understand too, having been a practicing orthopedic surgeon, how disheartening and frustrating it is to have non-clinical “experts” making key decisions about health care.

I’m sure you’ve also seen the news about how …

Health policy

How health care could crash the U.S. economy

Ron Howrigon

January 19, 2017Jan 19, 201722

An excerpt from Flatlining: How Healthcare Could Kill the U.S. Economy. In recent history, the U.S. economy has experienced the near catastrophic failure of two major market segments. The first was the auto industry and the second was the housing…

An excerpt from Flatlining: How Healthcare Could Kill the U.S. Economy.

In recent history, the U.S. economy has experienced the near catastrophic failure of two major market segments. The first was the auto industry and the second was the housing industry. While each of these reached their breaking point for different reasons, they both required a significant government bailout to keep them from completely melting down.

What is also true about …

Health policy

50 ways to lose your coverage if Obamacare is repealed

Bob Doherty

January 5, 2017Jan 5, 201711

The Republican congressional leadership appears to be determined to move forward with a high-risk “repeal, delay and replace” plan, very early in the new 115th Congress to repeal (at least on paper) the Affordable Care Act’s key coverage provisions—Medicaid expansion, subsidies to make private insurance sold through the exchanges affordable, the individual and employer mandates, and the taxes to pay for coverage—by a simple majority vote, while delaying when the …

Health policy

Obama gambled on health care and lost. Will Trump lose too?

Margalit Gur-Arie

January 1, 2017Jan 1, 201713

President Barack Obama, whether wittingly or not, invested his entire political capital in reforming health care in America. He gambled and lost. Not because he had nefarious intentions, but because he left the gory details to a corrupt Congress and a shady cadre of lying and conniving technocrats, ending up with something vastly different from what he campaigned on. From everything I’m reading now, President-elect Donald Trump is about to …

Health policy

How should the Affordable Care Act be modified?

Anonymous

December 31, 2016Dec 31, 20166

The Affordable Care Act is perhaps the biggest overhaul of the U.S. health care system in many decades. Enacted by President Barack Obama in 2010, it made health care attainable and affordable to millions of Americans. Individuals with pre-existing medical conditions cannot be denied health care coverage; insurance companies have to cover essential health care needs including mental health and preventive services, children can be covered under their parents’ plans …

Physician voices

8 ways doctors can help patients affected by the impending repeal of Obamacare

Sandeep Palakodeti, MD, MPH

December 22, 2016Dec 22, 2016

If you’re like me, you’re getting a bit restless hearing about what may or may not happen to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). As doctors, we are trained to act. While administrators plan new quality improvement programs, we take each…

If you’re like me, you’re getting a bit restless hearing about what may or may not happen to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

As doctors, we are trained to act. While administrators plan new quality improvement programs, we take each day as an opportunity to improve our practice and work more closely with our teams. While our clinics and hospitals try to figure out how to streamline workflows in our EHRs, …

Health policy

Will repeal and replace of the ACA move us forward or set us back?

American College of Physicians & Yul Ejnes, MD

December 18, 2016Dec 18, 20163

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. When the Trump Administration takes office, health reform as we now know it will not go away, but it will take a different form. I don’t think the…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

When the Trump Administration takes office, health reform as we now know it will not go away, but it will take a different form. I don’t think the changes will be as easy as opponents of the Affordable Care Act make them appear to be. It won’t be as simple as tearing down a …

Health policy and public health

Articles, page 101

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