Everyone thinks of “Medicare for all” as a liberal idea, an extremely liberal one embraced by the socialist wing of the Democratic Party. It’s an idea Democrats were hesitant to embrace in the Obama era, for being too far out of mains…
Category: Policy
The British are unafraid to talk about rationing. That’s something to admire.
I am a huge fan of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), but probably not for the reasons many people might assume. It’s not because it’s “socialist” (a horribly inaccurate description), or that it’s nationalized, or anything like that. I’m a huge fan because somehow the people of Britain have developed the courage to talk about […]
Lessons from the meeting of different value-based concepts
Value remains one of the most widely invoked and variably interpreted concept in American health care delivery. Beyond patients, stakeholder groups across the health care ecosystem are undertaking value-based initiatives, including payers (e.g., value-based insurance design and payments), provider organizations (e.g., value-based care redesign), pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefits managers (e.g., value-based pricing and formularies), […]
Medical bankruptcies happen less frequently than you think
Elizabeth Warren describes medical bills as “the leading cause of personal bankruptcy” in the United States. She bases that opinion in part on her own research, in which she and her collaborators surveyed people who had experienced personal bankruptcy, asked them whether they’d experienced health-related financial distress, and concluded that 60 percent of all bankruptcies in the U.S. […]
5 fears physicians face today
Like prep sports or prime-time television, medical meetings have seasons. In the spring and fall, my calendar fills with invitations to speak. I try to get to the venue a few hours before I’m scheduled to speak, so I can “take the pulse” of fellow doctors, asking them about their practices, patients and the future of […]