Commentary
Commentary
Government Planning Makes Long-Term Planning Impossible
I envy the good people of Massachusetts at least one thing: (in my humble opinion) the Boston Globe has the best coverage of local health policy. (Pity me, I’m stuck with the Los Angeles Times, and its kin.) Prompted by the BoGlo’s coverage of out-of-control health-care spending in the wake ...
Commentary
California School Days
Education: California Gov. Schwarzenegger is at odds with his school superintendent over how long the academic year should be. But is educational success, key to global competition, a matter of time, money or choice? The argument over what to do about America’s struggling schools is still raging. Programs such as ...
Commentary
Kids Need More School Choice
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes shortening the school year by five days to save $1.1 billion and help shrink the state’s $42-billion deficit. State superintendent Jack O’Connell opposes the idea, declaring that a longer school year is needed to prepare students for “the competitive global economy.” International evidence, however, overwhelmingly ...
Commentary
Lessons from States with “Universal” Health Care
Last January, governor Schwarzenegger’s expensive and unwieldy proposal for so-called “universal” health care finally gasped its last breath, after a long year of lobbying and coalition-building by the governor’s team. A year later, in 2009, legislators should attempt to learn from two states that have legislated “universal” care. Hawaii imposed ...
Commentary
Hospitals’ “Triple Whammy” Demands Reform
The Los Angeles Times reports that California hospitals are suffering a fiscal “triple whammy”: their investments are in the tank; they cannot borrow money in today’s frozen credit markets; and operating revenues have collapsed. Like I wrote in my analysis of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s failed health reform, hospitals’ finances are not ...
Commentary
NY Times Favors State Calculation of “Usual & Customary” Charges
My confidence always rises when the New York Times editorializes from the opposite side of an issue than I occupy. How pleased I was, then, when the editorial board cheered NY attorney-general Andrew Cuomo’s “settlement” (of course, I prefer “shakedown”) of Ingenix, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary that compiles proprietary databases, ...
Business & Economics
Murphy’s motives
Sometimes we really have to wonder about the motives of those who purport to represent the greater good in Washington. Take, for instance, Congressman Tim Murphy. Mr. Murphy, the 18th Congressional District “Republican,” adamantly insists that the deceptively titled Employee Free Choice Act won’t scotch the secret union organizing ballot. ...
Commentary
UnitedHealth Group: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
It looks like UnitedHealth Group’s trials have just begun. Shortly after NY attorney-general, Andrew Cuomo, announced that UHG’s subsidiary, Ingenix, a database-vendor, was happy to pay him $50 million to get off their case, the American Medical Association announced a class-action settlement of $350 million over the same issue: Ingenix’ ...
Commentary
NY’s “Cuomortician” Seals The Deal On Price Fixing
After almost a year of investigation, NY attorney-general Andrew Cuomo has finally finished his investigation of how the state’s health plans deal with claims for out-of-network care. The result: UnitedHealth Group willl pay $50 million to fund an independent, non-profit business to replicate its subsidiary’s calculations of “usual and customary” ...
Commentary
Consumer-Driven Health Care’s Crazy Side
For the second time, a health-care provider is suing a patient for posting a negative review on Yelp, a website that invites people to submit reviews of restaurants, bars, clothing boutiques, and pretty much whatever else strikes their fancy. Here in San Francisco we take all things Internet-related very seriously, ...
Government Planning Makes Long-Term Planning Impossible
I envy the good people of Massachusetts at least one thing: (in my humble opinion) the Boston Globe has the best coverage of local health policy. (Pity me, I’m stuck with the Los Angeles Times, and its kin.) Prompted by the BoGlo’s coverage of out-of-control health-care spending in the wake ...
California School Days
Education: California Gov. Schwarzenegger is at odds with his school superintendent over how long the academic year should be. But is educational success, key to global competition, a matter of time, money or choice? The argument over what to do about America’s struggling schools is still raging. Programs such as ...
Kids Need More School Choice
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes shortening the school year by five days to save $1.1 billion and help shrink the state’s $42-billion deficit. State superintendent Jack O’Connell opposes the idea, declaring that a longer school year is needed to prepare students for “the competitive global economy.” International evidence, however, overwhelmingly ...
Lessons from States with “Universal” Health Care
Last January, governor Schwarzenegger’s expensive and unwieldy proposal for so-called “universal” health care finally gasped its last breath, after a long year of lobbying and coalition-building by the governor’s team. A year later, in 2009, legislators should attempt to learn from two states that have legislated “universal” care. Hawaii imposed ...
Hospitals’ “Triple Whammy” Demands Reform
The Los Angeles Times reports that California hospitals are suffering a fiscal “triple whammy”: their investments are in the tank; they cannot borrow money in today’s frozen credit markets; and operating revenues have collapsed. Like I wrote in my analysis of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s failed health reform, hospitals’ finances are not ...
NY Times Favors State Calculation of “Usual & Customary” Charges
My confidence always rises when the New York Times editorializes from the opposite side of an issue than I occupy. How pleased I was, then, when the editorial board cheered NY attorney-general Andrew Cuomo’s “settlement” (of course, I prefer “shakedown”) of Ingenix, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary that compiles proprietary databases, ...
Murphy’s motives
Sometimes we really have to wonder about the motives of those who purport to represent the greater good in Washington. Take, for instance, Congressman Tim Murphy. Mr. Murphy, the 18th Congressional District “Republican,” adamantly insists that the deceptively titled Employee Free Choice Act won’t scotch the secret union organizing ballot. ...
UnitedHealth Group: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
It looks like UnitedHealth Group’s trials have just begun. Shortly after NY attorney-general, Andrew Cuomo, announced that UHG’s subsidiary, Ingenix, a database-vendor, was happy to pay him $50 million to get off their case, the American Medical Association announced a class-action settlement of $350 million over the same issue: Ingenix’ ...
NY’s “Cuomortician” Seals The Deal On Price Fixing
After almost a year of investigation, NY attorney-general Andrew Cuomo has finally finished his investigation of how the state’s health plans deal with claims for out-of-network care. The result: UnitedHealth Group willl pay $50 million to fund an independent, non-profit business to replicate its subsidiary’s calculations of “usual and customary” ...
Consumer-Driven Health Care’s Crazy Side
For the second time, a health-care provider is suing a patient for posting a negative review on Yelp, a website that invites people to submit reviews of restaurants, bars, clothing boutiques, and pretty much whatever else strikes their fancy. Here in San Francisco we take all things Internet-related very seriously, ...
