Category: Policy

How the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan provides a practical solution to medication nonadherence

Starting January 1, 2025, the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan (MPPP) will give providers a powerful way to address one of the biggest barriers to effective care: cost-related medication nonadherence. With 54 million Medicare beneficiaries eligible, …

How fee-for-service shapes your doctor’s decisions

An excerpt from Reshaping Health Systems: What Drives Health Care and How You Can Change It. Copyright © 2024, Wolters Kluwer. Clinical case Jessica is a 67-year-old woman having her very first visit with her new primary care clinician, Dr. Jackson. Je…

How fee-for-service shapes your doctor’s decisions

An excerpt from Reshaping Health Systems: What Drives Health Care and How You Can Change It. Copyright © 2024, Wolters Kluwer. Clinical case Jessica is a 67-year-old woman having her very first visit with her new primary care clinician, Dr. Jackson. Je…

Texas’ Medicaid expansion: a lifesaving solution ignored

Most Texas politicians balk at even discussing Medicaid expansion. They fear the wrath of state leadership and the threat of being primaried by someone further to the right. The expansion of Medicaid to the full extent permitted by the Affordable Care …

America’s democracy is on the brink: Will leaders act before it’s too late?

At age 80, I’m an “old guy.” I’ve been an avid reader and writer on multiple subjects all of my life. Though I write primarily about U.S. health care, I maintain a lively interest in politics generally. Since election day, I&#82…

Medicaid in non-expansion states: Explaining the indefensible

Over the years, as members of the Health and Public Policy Committee (HPPC) of the Texas chapter of the American College of Physicians (ACP), we have focused on advocacy for what we believe is the most important health policy issue in our state, Medica…

Congress must fix the Medicare penalty that’s keeping millions from aging at home

People enrolled in Medicare got good news recently. Their annual out-of-pocket costs for Part D prescription drug coverage will be capped at $2,000 next year. That should provide welcome relief to millions of older adults who worry about how they will …

If you are pro-psychiatry, should you be anti-RFK?

Much has been written about Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s radical health plans to eliminate fluoride from the drinking water and suppress vaccines, among other lame-brain schemes. But relatively few people are aware of his anti-psychiatry views, possibl…

A physician’s perspective on the crisis in Massachusetts health care

I am a surgeon from a family of surgeons, all based in Massachusetts. Throughout my career, I have faced many challenges, both in and outside of the operating room. Like most doctors, I am saddened by the current collapse of our system in general and m…

Voting from the hospital: How emergency ballots give patients a voice

Voting is one of the most fundamental rights in our democracy, and yet it can be incredibly challenging. Getting to your polling station, waiting in line, remembering to request your absentee ballot, checking your voter registration status—it is not a …