$6,500 Health Care Stealth Tax

As part of the New York Times’ Economic Scene series, David Leonhardt exposes the hidden tax in our current health care system: The United States now devotes one-sixth of its economy to medicine. Divvy that up, and health care will cost the typical household...

Health Care Costs: Read Atul Gawande

In his blog post on Blue Oregon, Steve Novick joins President Obama and former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber in declaring that we can’t do health reform without addressing the cost of care. Here’s how he begins: As the health care battle rages on, I...

Massachusetts Panel Backs Radical Shift in Health Payments

From today’s New York Times: A high-level state commission recommended Thursday that Massachusetts seek to rein in health care costs by radically restructuring the way doctors and hospitals are paid. The commission’s action kicks off the second phase of a...

Trillion Dollar Mind Game

I’ve been frustrated for some time by the “$1 trillion over 10 years” price tag that has been placed on federal health reform legislation. First, because it was an arbitrary number that entered the debate, and second, that it has been touted as a...

San Francisco: Taking a Bite Out of Health Care Costs

In a blog post in the Huffington Post, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom writes about the successes of the city’s expaned health care program: But in San Francisco we are going far beyond the notion of health care as just a way of treating sickness. We are saving...

Massachusetts Takes a Step Back From Health Care for All

[UPDATE: From the New York Times (7/17/09): A high-level state commission recommended Thursday that Massachusetts seek to rein in health care costs by radically restructuring the way doctors and hospitals are paid. Read more.] In a real-life test of what happens when...