Blog

March 14, 2012

There was a disturbing juxtaposition of news items this week. First, the Congressional Budget Office came out with new forecasts showing that, under health reform, the number of Americans enrolled … Continued

March 8, 2012

We’re all concerned about how our healthcare workforces will keep up with an increasing patient population.  Not only is Medicare growing at the rate of 7,500 new beneficiaries per day, … Continued

February 28, 2012

Tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb. 29), the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee is scheduled to vote on legislation that would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).  IPAB is the provision … Continued

February 24, 2012

Massachusetts received the lion’s share of attention, but one other state had also created a health insurance exchange before Congress passed the Affordable Care Act health reform law.  The Utah … Continued

February 17, 2012

There’s a very illuminating story in the newest edition of National Journal (no, I can’t link to the article because it’s subscription-only material, but I urge you to check out … Continued

February 7, 2012

Even before its implementation, for which the Internal Revenue Service issued regulations last Friday, the medical device tax is already taking a heavy toll. Late last year, a major device … Continued

February 3, 2012

Earlier this week, I posted in this space about the need for Congress to take the issue of entitlement reform seriously, and to avoid undermining serious discussion about proposals to … Continued

January 30, 2012

If you smoke tobacco, you’re not going to be hired for a job by the Baylor Health Care System.  For that matter, you don’t need to waste time filling out … Continued

December 15, 2011

If there ever seemed an issue, in today’s political environment, upon which Democrats and Republicans would never meet in the middle, it is Medicare reform.  This is always particularly true … Continued

November 22, 2011

If hand-wringing and finger-pointing actually generated dollars, Washington, DC would probably be able to solve the federal deficit problem today.  With ‘super committee’ negotiations collapsing and members of the Joint … Continued