New Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries

While mainstream news coverage is still a primary source of information for the latest in policy debates and the health care marketplace, online blogs have become a significant part of the media landscape, often presenting new perspectives on policy issues and drawing attention to under-reported topics. To provide complete coverage of health policy issues, the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report offers readers a window into the world of blogs in a new roundup of health policy-related blog posts. "Blog Watch," published on Tuesdays and Fridays, tracks a wide range of blogs, providing a brief description and relevant links for highlighted posts.

Upcoming Event: The Health Blogoshpere: What It Means for Policy Debates and Journalism
On Tuesday, July 29, at 1 p.m. ET, the Kaiser Family Foundation is sponsoring a live webcast about the growing influence of blogs on health news and policy debates. The briefing will highlight how the traditional health policy world has embraced blogging and will feature a keynote address by HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, the first cabinet officer to author an official blog, followed by a moderated discussion with a variety of health policy bloggers and a media analyst. Panelists also will take questions from the online audience. To submit a question for the panel, e-mail ask@kaisernetwork.org before the live webcast. For more information please visit kaisernetwork.org.

The American Prospect's Ezra Klein discusses recent comments by Alan Hubbard, adviser to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), comparing third-party payment for health care to what would happen if there were third-party payment for groceries. Under such a system, Hubbard contends that price would no longer "affect your decisions about what to buy and what not to buy" and people would start buying "caviar, expensive steak." Klein counters that "the economics around luxury goods are quite different than the economics around necessary goods; you can't compare chemotherapy with a sumptuous steak."

Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag discusses testimony he gave July 24 on health information technology, saying, "Perhaps the most significant -- and most under-examined -- potential benefit of health IT is its complementarity with comparative effectiveness research."

Gooz News' Merril Goozner disagrees with a New York Times opinion piece that calls for a prospective payment system for physicians, saying the "evidence is overwhelming" that salaried physicians who operate in teams are more cost-effective.

James Kvaal on the Center for American Progress Action Fund's Wonk Room blog discusses the Tax Policy Center's new analysis of the presidential candidates' tax plans and points out inconsistencies from McCain's campaign on whether health benefits would be subject to income and/or payroll taxes. He says, "We still aren't sure whether John McCain's health care plan would raise taxes on the middle class or blow up the deficit." Kvaal adds, "Either way, McCain's tax credit would rapidly fall behind rising health care premiums."

John Iglehart on the Health Affairs Blog discusses a report from the Association of Academic Health Centers that calls for a national health work force planning initiative.

The Health Business Blog's David Williams hosts the most recent edition of Health Wonk Review, a biweekly compendium of more than two dozen health policy, infrastructure, insurance, technology and managed care bloggers. A different participant's blog hosts each issue.

Maggie Mahar from the Century Foundation's Health Beat Blog argues that health reformers should begin with Medicare, saying, "Ideally, the [next] administration should make Medicare reform a demonstration project for high-quality, affordable universal coverage."

The Health Care Blog's Sarah Arnquist discusses budget problems in California that could "erode" children's enrollment in state-funded health plans.

Brian Rosman from Health Care for All's A Healthy Blog responds to issues raised in a letter from Massachusetts business and insurer trade groups. The letter states "strong opposition" to proposed new assessments and taxes to fund the state's health care reform law. Rosman says, "for key stakeholders to now say, 'not my problem' is to turn their back on the achievements of health reform they can justifiably be proud of."

Michael Miller of Health Care Policy and Communications blog estimates the amount of Medicare reimbursements a physician would need to break even when implementing electronic prescribing and notes that new incentives announced by HHS "could be a penalty" for physicians who see few Medicare patients.

Joanne Kenen from the New America Foundation's New Health Dialogue reports that "there was a general sense that a consensus may be emerging" during NAF's event on Medicare reform, adding two prominent themes emerged: governance of Medicare and "value-based purchasing." A webcast of the event is available online at kaisernetwork.org

Sarah Rubenstein from The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog discusses speculation that consumers might be getting more mail-order prescriptions because of high gas prices. Medco CEO David Snow recently commented that patients "can save on gas by having things delivered to their homes," Rubenstein notes, pointing out that Medco's mail-order prescription volume increased in the second quarter.