Opinion
-
Tennessee Doctors Sue HMOs
Opinion -Alleging HMOs have created “shell games that avoid their contractual obligations,” the Tennessee Medical Association (TMA) is suing Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, CIGNA, and UnitedHealthcare, charging them with unfair and deceptive business -
Health Insurance Heartburn
Opinion -Our health care system has a very bad case of regulatory indigestion. After years of an indulging regulatory diet cooked up in both Democratic and Republican kitchens, health insurance heartburn is rising faster than you can say “pass the Rolaids. -
Britain’s Million-Year Wait
Opinion -Britons were shocked recently by newspaper headlines saying there are now a million people on National Health Service (NHS) waiting lists. The figure means one in 60 British citizens are now waiting for medical treatment. -
Grassroots Succeed in Rewriting Minnesota MEHPA
Opinion -Minnesota citizens may soon experience medical martial law. -
Missouri Court Limits HMO Ability to Control Costs
Opinion -There has always been tension among competing interests affected by managed care: for example, those interested in controlling health care costs, and those interested in providing easy access to health care services. -
Grassroots Activists Take on Rx Limits
Opinion -Grassroots activists converged on the capitol steps in Annapolis, Maryland on April 3 to protest the General Assembly’s consideration of measures that would restrict the availability of prescription drugs. -
Helping the Uninsured Who Need it Most
Opinion -The economic slowdown will result in an estimated 1 million people losing their health insurance in 2002. Health insurance premiums are rising about 15 percent on average, with many individuals and businesses seeing increases of 30 to 40 percent. -
Bioterror Act Creates Its Own Terror
Opinion -In the wake of September 11, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended states adopt a model law creating sweeping new government powers to address public health emergencies. -
Imagine Accessing Quality Health Care from the Sky
Opinion -Imagine a woman in a rural community too small to have a first-class breast clinic, having her mammography results analyzed instantly by cancer experts at a National Cancer Institute like New York’s Sloan-Kettering Medical Center. -
05/2002: State Legislative Update
Opinion -ARIZONA Arizona's Statewide Health Care Insurance Plan Task Force is drafting a proposal to provide health insurance to the state's one million uninsured residents within the next three to five years. -
Health Care in England: Not Your Cup of Tea: Part 4
Opinion -There seems to be no argument when I report England’s National Health Service (NHS) is in need of major surgery. -
New Round Fired in Fat Wars
Opinion -The March/April 2002 issue of Health Affairs magazine offers up new ammunition in the nation’s most recently launched War: not on terrorism, but on obesity. -
Smile, You’re on Candid Camera-Pill
Opinion -The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a tiny camera patients can swallow to yield a living-color tour of the stomach and bowel. -
05/2002: The Galen Report
Opinion -Senior Capitol Hill staff members outlined prospects for passage of a Medicare prescription drug benefit this year during an April Commonwealth Fund conference on "Options and Possibilities. -
05/2002: The Pulse
Opinion -You are invited to participate in an online discussion list dealing with many of the issues we report on here. To check it out, send an e-mail to [email protected]. -
Anti-Obesity Activists Take Aim at Food Industry
Opinion -The television news media has jumped on the obesity bandwagon, providing a platform for self-described consumer activists who blame the food industry for obesity. -
Building the Twenty-First Century Hospital
Opinion -The only thing changing more than the weather this time of year is technology. The rapid developments made recently in high-tech health care are revolutionizing hospitals through advancements in medicine, surgical techniques, and computerized procedures. -
Bush Loosens up Privacy Rules
Opinion -The Bush administration has proposed changing some of the federal rules designed to protect the confidentiality of medical records, including the ability of patients to decide in advance who should be able to use their personal health information. -
Canada’s Abysmal Health Technology Record
Opinion -The Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, Ontario has just added a new MRI unit; Alberta has committed itself to increasing the number of MRI units in the province by seven; and the Federal Government has allocated $1 billion of spending to increasing -
Food and Drink Police
Opinion -There have always been ascetics and self-scourgers, and in a free society they are at perfect liberty to act (and eat) as their consciences (or bellies) dictate. -
Not in My Backyard
Opinion -Given the evidence presented in our series on England’s socialized medical system, it should not be difficult to question the merit and morality of duplicating such a flawed arrangement in the United States. -
Table: Spending and MRI Availability in OECD Countries
Opinion -Spending and MRI Availabilityin OECD Countries Country 1998 Spending Rank (% GDP) 1998 Spending Rank (Per Capita)** 2000 MRI/Million*** MRI/Million Rank* United States (1998) 1 1 7.6 6 Switzerland (1998) 2 2 13. -
Health Care in England: Not Your Cup of Tea: Part 3
Opinion -Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) was once highly regarded. It was described as “second to none,” even “the envy of mankind. -
Gunning the HMOs: How much of John Q is true?
Opinion -In the new movie John Q, an HMO bureaucrat played by actress Anne Heche refuses to place the main character’s son on a waiting list for a heart transplant because his underinsured family can’t come up with the downpayment on the $250,000 operation.
