Washington Watch: Health Policy

Physicians writing on KevinMD about federal health policy from 2017 to 2020: the Affordable Care Act and the proposals to replace it, Medicare for all argued for and against, hospital prices and what fair payment means, and why physicians should or should not get political. This archive is closed; policy posts since 2020 sit on the Health Policy category. Two maintained records draw on this archive: Prior authorization: what physicians say, in their own words, and Primary care: what physicians say, in their own words.

The medical profession can help heal divisions as well as diseases

Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD

Physician

February 25, 2019

Medicine need not be confined to the role of cultural bellwether, a sheep with a bell on its neck that reveals where the whole flock is headed. Along with other professions such as law, clergy, and education, medicine can and should play the leadership role of a shepherd, helping our society to develop more thoughtful, balanced and generous approaches to the challenges that face us. After all, the word Read more…

The medical profession can help heal divisions as well as diseases

Doctors and patients should be wary of health care mega-mergers

Linda Girgis, MD

Health Policy

February 24, 2019

Over the past year, multiple mega-mergers were announced in health care. The four largest ones being:

1. On March 18, 2018, Cigna announced that it was acquiring Express Scripts for $68 billion in cash and stocks. The deal was closed on December 20, 2018.

2. On December 3, 2017, CVS announced that they were acquiring Aetna for $69 billion in cash and stocks. The deal was officially closed on November 28. …

Political correctness and the taboo topics in medicine

Edwin Leap, MD

Physician

February 24, 2019

I write for several publications, and I’m always pitching to new venues. Recently I pitched an idea to an editor. I wanted to write about gun research from the perspective of a rural physician. In particular, I wanted to ask what might physicians say if researchers found answers that were uncomfortable. What if they found that intact families, strong fathers, religious engagement or familiarity with guns were factors that reduce …

The crippling health effects of another government shutdown

Alani Gregory, MD

Health Policy

February 12, 2019

At midnight on February 15th, if Republicans and Democrats don’t come to an agreement about border security funding, the American people will be facing the possibility of a third government shutdown since President Trump took office. The most recent government shutdown — the longest in history at 35 days — left nearly 800,000 Americans furloughed or working without pay. Federal benefits that millions of Americans depend on, such as …

The true cost of being uninsured in America

Michael Weiss, MD

Health Policy

February 8, 2019

In a New York Post article dated January 23, 2019, the author states how Americans without health care insurance hit 13.7 percent. This 2.8 percent increase means an additional seven-million Americans lack health coverage as noted by the Gallup survey period.

This is not far behind the 18 percent recorded just before the Obamacare mandate in 2014.

Everyone is blamed in this article except the culprits. Do you think for one moment …

Let’s insure our kids instead of building a wall

Sonali Saluja, MD, MPH

Health Policy

January 22, 2019

President Trump wants $5 billion for his border wall — right now — and another $7 billion (or maybe $13 billion) later on to finish the project. What else could we do with that kind of money? Here’s an idea: with $12 billion we could cover ALL 3.9 million American children who are uninsured today, and still have a couple billion left over. Put another way: …

Take ownership of our broken health care system now

John Corsino, DPT

Health Policy

January 18, 2019

In health care, we enjoy a unique opportunity to create special relationships with our work. Few enter these professions for practical reasons, and fewer still survive rigorous training without genuine belief in what they might accomplish. And cliched though they may be, the many mission statements which purport the “art of caring” do convey something real.

But to even for the naïve, spending enough time around health care produces a certain …

Why is Medicaid reimbursement below sustainability?

Niran S. Al-Agba, MD

Health Policy

January 15, 2019

Recently, a child was on a waitlist for five months to get into my practice. For this article, I will call him Tiny Tim.

Tiny Tim, now five years old, has a skin condition known as eczema or atopic dermatitis. When we first met, virtuously every area of his body was covered with wounds from constant scratching. Skin that breaks easily and heals poorly can give bacteria access to other parts …

The demonization of socialized medicine

Matthew Hahn, MD

Health Policy

December 26, 2018

Of late, doctor/friends on social media have taken to reposting news articles detailing the horrors taking place in other nations because of the evil scourge known as socialized medicine. In fact, the two words, alone or together, just don’t carry anything near the weight of the pain and suffering they imply, so I have taken to adding this exclamation point, in parentheses, to make it absolutely clear how terrible a …

Read more…

The demonization of socialized medicine

This isn’t just my lane, it’s my highway

Judy Melinek, MD

Health Policy

December 6, 2018

On Wednesday, I did a gunshot-wound autopsy. On Friday, I was going into the morgue to perform another when I checked Twitter and saw this.

Doctors across the U.S. and across medical specialties were already responding and sharing photos: their face shields spattered and scrubs drenched in their patients’ blood; more blood on the emergency room …

5 health care lessons from the mid-term elections

Bob Doherty

Health Policy

November 26, 2018

This seems to be the big take-home message from voters the mid-term elections, which bodes well for preserving gains from the Affordable Care Act and expanding coverage. Health care was the number 1 issue for voters according to several exit polls, beating out immigration, the economy, and gun violence, among others, with voters strongly favoring Democrats as the party more likely to protect patients with …

Don’t wait to take action on gun control

Jennifer R. Marin, MD

Health Policy

November 25, 2018

“Active Shooter in Squirrel Hill.” This was the subject line of an email I received on the morning of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting. It was from my children’s school, which is located less than a mile from the scene of the shooting. “I am working … to put in place a plan for helping our students understand this situation in age-appropriate ways,” the school’s principal went on to …

The conservative appeal of Medicare for all

Peter Ubel, MD

Health Policy

November 6, 2018

Everyone thinks of “Medicare for all” as a liberal idea, an extremely liberal one embraced by the socialist wing of the Democratic Party. It’s an idea Democrats were hesitant to embrace in the Obama era, for being too far out of mainstream political thought. It was thought of as an idea that was too easy to demonize as socialism.

What everyone seems to be forgetting is that “Medicare for …

Help hospitalized patients vote by requesting emergency ballots

Priya Joshi

Health Policy

November 4, 2018

Two years ago, when I was still in residency I happened to be on overnight call the day prior to election day.

An associate program director of my residency program asked me if I wouldn’t mind being a doctor of record who evaluates whether I agree a patient is too sick to go to the polls. They forwarded to me names of patients who expressed interest in voting and were already …

Doctors need to vote. And doctors need to help them.

Jonathan Kohler, MD

Physician

November 4, 2018

Doctors need to vote.

Everyone should vote, of course, but doctors have a unique perspective on some of the most important issues of the day, and it’s time we express that perspective in the one place it matters most: the ballot box. Whether it’s the actual effects of bullets on tissue, or the value of having health insurance for you and your children we are …

It’s time we start voting at our local hospitals

Stephen Haff and Hussain Lalani, MD

Health Policy

November 2, 2018

Early voting began recently in Texas with unprecedented excitement, as a record 15 million registered voters made their way to the polls. Reports say polls are looking more like Black Friday shopping lines than early voting locations. Although we cannot predict the results of the election, one thing is clear: healthcare is the top issue. This is hardly surprising given …

What can politicians do to address the opioid crisis?

Linda Girgis, MD

Conditions and Diseases

November 2, 2018

I doubt there is anyone living in the U.S. who doesn’t realize we have an opioid crisis here. Politicians debate the solutions to abating the high death rate that comes along with it, however, they fail to acknowledge that there are Americans in pain. Yes, we need to be sure opioids are prescribed judiciously. However, we also need to treat patients in pain.

As a doctor, it is not always easy …

This is how your vote affects children’s health

Shetal Shah, MD and Heather L. Brumberg, MD, MPH

Health Policy

November 1, 2018

As pediatricians who care for fragile, premature babies — we know firsthand the road to child health runs through quality health insurance coverage. Our patients require breathing machines, customized intravenous nutrition, expensive, specialized equipment and 24/7 monitoring in the neonatal intensive care unit, often with a dedicated nurse.

The high-tech care our patients require is supremely expensive. And quality health insurance partially supports these costs, which for premature babies, can be …

Health care is expensive. It’s time to treat the cause.

Dr. Meg Hansen

Health Policy

October 29, 2018

We do not rely on the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker to feed ourselves — Adam Smith observed in the “Wealth of Nations” (1776) — but on their regard for their own interest. The desire to pursue a profitable living also holds true for doctors and nurses, notwithstanding the moral dimensions of their labor.

Health care is a service like any other. We ought to expect price …

The British are unafraid to talk about rationing. That’s something to admire.

Richard Young, MD

Health Policy

October 23, 2018

I am a huge fan of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), but probably not for the reasons many people might assume. It’s not because it’s “socialist” (a horribly inaccurate description), or that it’s nationalized, or anything like that. I’m a huge fan because somehow the people of Britain have developed the courage to talk about health care using very adult language. In the U.S., we can rarely progress beyond the …

Washington Watch: Health Policy

Washington Watch: Health Policy

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