Health Reform in the House | Fact of the Day Three quarters of those declaring medical bankruptcy had health insurance.
(American Journal of Medicine) | Health Resources |
Under the Microscope STUDY: Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a National Survey
As recently as 1981, only 8% of families filing for bankruptcy did so in the aftermath of a serious medical problem. By contrast, our 2001 study in 5 states found that illness or medical bills contributed to about half of bankruptcies. By 2007, over 62% of all bankruptcies were medical. Here we report the first-ever national random-sample survey of bankruptcy filers.
[American Journal of Medicine, August 2009]
Health Care Headlines Health-Care Reform, One Stop at a Time
President Obama's supporters hope to recapture the energy of last year's triumphant election campaign in a bid to regain control of the health-care debate, planning more than 2,000 house parties, rallies and town hall meetings across the country over the next two weeks. [Washington Post, 8/31/2009] Health Bill Would Cut Drug Spending for Many on Medicare, Budget Office Says
Medicare beneficiaries would often have to pay higher premiums for prescription drug coverage, but many would see their total drug spending decline, so they would save money as a result of health legislation moving through the House, the Congressional Budget Office said in a recent report.
[New York Times, 8/31/2009] Senior Groups Reject Health Care 'Scare Tactics'
At high noon on one of the hottest days of the summer, a small group of senior citizens sweated it out in front of state GOP headquarters in Raleigh, N.C., asking the Republican Party to stop using what they called "scare tactics" to turn senior citizens against overhauling the health care system. [NPR, 8/30/2009] Health Care: Lowering Costs for Old Could Raise Them for Young
Chris Denny, who runs a small marketing firm in Santa Rosa, Calif., buys his own health insurance for $117 a month. An avid gardener, Denny, 27, describes himself as healthy and fit. [USA Today, 8/30/2009] Hospitals Expanding Duties of Chaplains
Requests for hospital chaplains—from both religious and nonreligious patients and families—are growing in part because hospitals are caring for sicker patients who are more often grappling with questions about aggressive care and death. [Boston Globe, 8/31/2009] Echoes of 1930s in Health Care Debate
President Obama recently pointed out that presidents have called for health care reform for nearly a century. [NPR, 8/28/2009] EDITORIAL: Majority Rule on Healthcare Reform
The talk in Washington is that Senate Democrats are preparing to push through health care reforms using parliamentary procedures that will allow a simple majority to prevail in their chamber, as it does in the House, instead of the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster that Senate Republicans are sure to mount.
[New York Times, 8/28/2009] OPINION: Until Medical Bills Do Us Part
By Nicholas Kristoff
Critics fret that health care reform would undermine American family values, not least by convening somber death panels to wheel away Grandma as if she were Old Yeller. [New York Times, 8/30/2009] OPINION: Live or Die? That Was for the Panel to Decide
By John Buntin, writer, Governing magazine, & author
Death panels: Republicans warn they're coming; Democrats say such a thing is unimaginable.
[Washington Post, 8/23/2009] COMMENTARY: Counseling That Helps the Dying Live
By Devin Talbott, co-founder of GenerationEngage & Strobe Talbott, president, Brookings Institution
Many opponents of health-care reform have concentrated their fire on a provision in House legislation that would provide for government reimbursement to doctors who offer end-of-life counseling.
[Washington Post, 8/29/2009] INTERVIEW: Warner: Discussion Must Include End-Of-Life Care
Some of the hottest debate over health care this summer has been about end-of-life care. In Virginia Thursday, Democratic Senator Mark Warner held a town hall meeting designed to specifically address end-of-life issues. [NPR, 8/28/2009] LETTERS: Helping Patients Cope With Death
By Gail Austin Cooney, president, American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine & medical director of Hospice of Palm Beach County
“At the End, Offering Not a Cure but Comfort” (“Months to Live” series, front page, Aug. 20) presented a detailed, sensitive look at one aspect of palliative care — hospice care — but could leave the impression that palliative care is only for patients who are dying. [New York Times, 8/29/2009] OPINION: No Government Health Care! (Except for Mine)
By Ezra Klein
"We need to protect Medicare," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele exhorted last week, "and not cut it in the name of 'health-insurance reform.' " It was a rousing defense of government-run health care from the . . . conservative chairman of the GOP. [Washington Post, 08/30/2009] OPINION: Health Centers Should Be the Centerpiece for Reform
By Dan E. Rowe, MD, founding partner of Skin Cancer & Dermatology Institute
Little known to the public, a grassroots system for taking care of the uninsured in America has been growing within the health care industry. [Nevada Appeal, 8/29/2009] |