Opinion

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  • Thompson to Review HIPAA Privacy Rules

    Published April 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    As one of his first major acts as the Bush administration’s new Health and Human Services Secretary, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson has postponed the effective date of privacy regulations called for by the Health Insurance Portability and
  • Who’s Looking at Your Medical Records?

    Published April 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    Did you know that the federal government is making new rules about who can look at your personal medical records? These rules will make it easier for a wide range of individuals and groups to see your medical information . . . without your knowledge.
  • Top Ten Ways to Fix Health Insurance in the U.S.

    Published April 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    President George W. Bush and the 107th Congress face important decisions about how to fix the U.S. health care system so that all Americans have access to quality health insurance coverage.
  • Mandatory Vaccination Programs and Medical Ethics

    Published April 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    The issue of mandatory vaccination programs for infants and children is coming to a head. Battle lines are being drawn.
  • Drug Wars in Maine

    Published April 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    In an effort to provide affordable prescription drugs to state Medicare beneficiaries, Maine was the first state in the nation to pass legislation establishing state-level drug price controls.
  • Long-term Care Legislation Introduced

    Published April 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    Legislation introduced on March 1 by Rep.
  • Prescription Drug Proposal Gets Lukewarm Reception

    Published April 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    The Democrats’ reception for President George W. Bush’s prescription drug benefit plan was about as warm as their reception of the nomination of now-Attorney General John Ashcroft.
  • Study: Health Care Costs Overstated

    Published April 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    Elderly Americans spend about 12 percent of their income on out-of-pocket health expenses on average, and the poor elderly spend about 20 percent, according to a study by Santa Monica, California-based RAND.
  • The Battle for Vermont

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    The Vermont legislature, like the legislatures of many other states, recently defeated an attempt to pass a cloned version of the single-payer health care plan devised by the Clinton administration in 1994.
  • MSAs Made Easy

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    The information on this page is drawn from two publications of the American Medical Association’s Center for Health Policy Research, Medical Savings Accounts: Why the American Medical Association Supports Medical Savings Accounts (2000) and MSAs Made
  • 03/2001: The Pulse

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    More MSA Experiments in AfricaFirst it was South Africa, and now Zimbabwe is moving ahead on the Medical Savings Account (MSA) front. A new company, Sovereign Health Zimbabwe, has been formed to provide coverage to companies with 10 or more employees.
  • 03/2001: State Legislative Update

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    Arizona Arizona Senator Sue Grace has introduced legislation that would create a high-risk health insurance pool in the state.
  • Statement of Principle on Patient Choice

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    October 11, 2000 Because the Patients' Bill of Rights will raise costs and reduce access to health insurance, employers and employees should have the ability to opt out of the provisions of the bill if they so desire.
  • Employers Unite to Tackle Medical Errors

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    Medical errors are an important consumer issue ripe for pandering to those who use health care the most: our elder generation. The button on this one doesn’t get any hotter.
  • Does Managed Care Cause Medical Errors?

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    Managed care programs restrict patient and physician choices in order to lower prices paid by employers and minimize unnecessary procedures.
  • Prevention Better than Cure for Medication Problems

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    By applying the timely tincture of common sense, it is possible to reduce the risks presented by medications. Avoiding medication problems is better than managing them later.
  • When Patient Protection Backfires

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    It was not so many years ago that managed care in general, and HMOs in particular, were hailed as the solution to ever-rising health insurance costs. President Clinton made HMOs the cornerstone of his elaborate managed competition proposal.
  • Myths about Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    For more than 50 years, America has relied on employers as the primary source of health insurance coverage. For the most part, this has been a successful approach, providing coverage in 1998 to 155 million people, compared to only 15.
  • Unlimited Prescription Drug Coverage May Endanger Seniors

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    "Hazardous to seniors' health." That could be an appropriate warning label to attach to proposals being made for unlimited prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
  • The Defined Contribution Revolution

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    An idea that has greatly benefitted over 55 million Americans holding 401(k) retirement plans may also be the best idea for making health insurance more available and affordable. That idea is "defined contributions.
  • Doctors Long for Simple Care, Too

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    Let's not kid ourselves. Becoming a physician today requires more than altruism. It requires courage. Thanks to the shift from fee-for-service care to third-party insurance, caring for patients has become a day-to-day battle with managed care companies.
  • FDA’s Pediatric Rule Hurts Public Health

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    A physicians' association and two public interest groups filed suit in federal court, challenging the validity of the Food and Drug Administration's "Pediatric Rule.
  • Fee-for-service Health Care Makes a Comeback

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    Remember when you could choose to go to any doctor, pay a reasonable fee for your medical service, and not worry about co-pays, deductibles, and some distant stranger authorizing or denying the care prescribed by your physician?
  • Market-based Reforms Get Post-Election Boost

    Published March 1, 2001
    Opinion -
    As the Clinton administration departed Washington and George W. Bush moved in, health care reform measures attracted some much-needed public policy attention.

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