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 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.
Event Today: The Health Blogosphere: 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 argues for middle ground between liberal and conservative methods of rationing care and says that "if doctors had more information, and out-of-pocket costs were tied to the best available evidence on effectiveness, I think you could move towards a system that's a whole lot more rational in how it allocated care."
Trudy Lieberman of the Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign Desk critiques press coverage of lobbying efforts by Health Care for America Now and America's Health Insurance Plans, saying that "the potential is enormous for voter confusion" and that "[j]ournalists must explain who these groups are, identify their members and illuminate what's at stake for each of them."
Brian Rosman from Health Care for All's A Healthy Blog writes that Gov. Deval Patrick's (D-Mass.) funding proposals for the state's health insurance law could improve the economy, pointing to a Families USA estimate that Patrick's proposal to spend $130 million would generate $285 million in business activity and create 2,200 jobs.
John Leppard of Health Care Manumission discusses new research on the uninsured and underinsured and says, "[F]orget about insurance and start thinking about how we pay for the medical care we receive. Putting consumers in the driver's seat, not government bureaucrats, not [pharmacy benefit managers], not claims adjudicators, is what is key to fixing the things we all want to see fixed in health care."
Health Policy and Marketplace Review's Bob Laszewski writes that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) would not be able to criticize presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's (Ill.) health plan as effectively if he selects former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) as his running mate because Obama's plan and the Massachusetts health insurance law are "virtual clones."
Don McCanne of Physicians for a National Health Program Blog discusses new estimates that the government has paid more for prescription drugs under Medicare Part D for dual eligibles -- individuals covered by both Medicaid and Medicare -- than was paid previously under Medicaid, suggesting that in the health care debate "[o]ne side is represented by individuals who want everyone to have affordable access to the health care that they need, and the other side is more interested in enhancing the private sector through measures such as ensuring windfall profits for the pharmaceutical firms."
