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.

Igor Volsky of the Center for American Progress Action Fund's Wonk Room looks at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) stance on a cigarette tax, as well as the response of McCain's economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin (here) to questions about the candidate's "individual-market centric health care proposal."

Merrill Goozner of Gooz News discusses a Wall Street Journal editorial that denounces cigarette taxes. Goozner says a national cigarette levy "directly taxes one of the major causes of rising health care costs; it reduces smoking, which will lower health care costs in the long run; and, because it is national, it leaves the smoker with no place to run for cheaper cigarettes."

The Health Care Blog's Sarah Arnquist details the soon-to-be launched "Healthy Howard Plan" in Howard County, Md. Arnquist says, "As long as national health care politics remain paralyzed, local and state governments will experiment with reform and coverage expansion plans."

John Joseph Leppard writes in Healthcare Manumission, "Many individuals have the mistaken belief that the reason prescription drugs cost so much is simply because we do not set prices as is done in other countries. The truth is far different."

Bob Laszewski from Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review looks at a decision by the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to deny coverage for certain treatments for advanced kidney cancer. Laszewski says the agency does not "make arbitrary and bureaucratic decisions -- they follow the science."

Michael Miller from the Health Policy and Communications Blog looks at how health care issues are polling among voters and political insiders.

Jane Sarasohn-Kahn writes on Health Populi that health care cost management is impossible "without individuals connecting the dots between our individual health behaviors and health economics."

Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters outlines what he sees as a trend: "[H]ospital revenues are up slightly, profits are up much more than revenues, and this despite (mostly) flat patient volumes and lower surgical volumes." Paduda surmises that "[h]ospitals are gaining power at the expense of commercial payers."

Mark Levin from the National Review Online's The Corner responds to a column from Paul Krugman of the New York Times about the possibility of guaranteed access to health care. Levin writes, "[Krugman] measures progress by the extent to which government runs things, not by what actually benefits society."

Sarah Weaton of the New York Times' The Caucus blog, Louise of Colorado Health Insurance Insider and Stephen of the Physicians for a National Health Program's blog address health care components of the principles set forth by the Democratic Party's platform committee.

Laura Meckler of the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog is moderating an ongoing debate about health care issues with Jay Khosla, a health policy adviser for the McCain, and David Cutler, a health policy adviser for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). The questions and answers are available online.