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.

The American Prospect's Ezra Klein looks at a recent Washington Times op-ed piece skeptical of expected HHS Secretary Tom Daschle's proposal to create a Federal Health Board and says advocates of the proposal are selling the idea "quite poorly." Klein says the idea "promises a system with a real claim to legitimacy," but advocates' success "putting the idea into policy is far outpacing their success at communicating it to the public."

Igor Volsky on the Center for American Progress Action Fund's Wonk Room blog looks at the Bush administration's new rule allowing states to charge Medicaid beneficiaries premiums and higher copayments for care. Volsky says a better way to help states with costs would be to increase the federal medical assistance percentages, in addition to expanding Medicaid "to allow more Americans to buy affordable health coverage."

Niko Karvounis of the Century Foundation's Health Beat Blog examines the most recent issue of Health Affairs on medical technology, saying it "warrants special attention" because "quantifying the 'imaging boom' provides an important contribution to understanding America's health care woes."

Judith Graham of the Chicago Tribune's Triage looks at an Illinois man's difficulty affording increasing health insurance premiums and says the case illustrates the bigger picture of unsustainable rising health costs.

David Nather on CQ Politics' In Transition looks at efforts from two members of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team and health care policy working group to hold an online discussion seeking comments from the general public on problems with the health care system. Nather says the question "is whether the online discussion will produce ideas the Obama health care policy team can use, or whether it will be just another device to let people feel like they've been heard."

Jeremy Engdahl-Johnson on the Health Care Blog looks at arguments over whether electronic health records will save costs. Engdahl-Johnson concludes, "We can't know for sure," but evidence EHRs can improve health care quality "may clear the way for other changes, generating the will to make a pervasive electronic health environment a reality."

Brian Rosman and Lindsey Tucker on Health Care for All's A Healthy Blog look at media coverage of the primary care physician shortage in Massachusetts, saying the shortage is "not a consequence of health reform; it was always there," but health reform has put a "spotlight" on the problem, which is not discussed in most states.

Bob Laszewski on Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review notes Obama's recent statements on "constructive" deficit spending in regard to health care, where he mentioned health information technology legislation as a possible example. According to Laszewski, a smaller "downpayment" bill like this is "more likely than a larger bill -- because a consensus on what health care reform should look like and how it would be paid for will continue to prove to be elusive."

Insure Blog's Bob Vineyard looks at medical and dental discount plans and says although people are struggling financially, these plans are not insurance and "not the answer."

Managed Care Matters' Joe Paduda responds to a Think Progress item detailing the case for health reform, saying there will be no major health reform legislation in 2009 because other political issues "leave no oxygen for major health reform," especially when Obama's proposal and some others before Congress do not meaningfully address health care costs.

Paul Testa on the New America Foundation's New Health Dialogue looks at recent optimism about successful health reform legislation, but notes this is an early stage and adds, "Everyone has nice things to say at the start of ... a major reform effort. It's whether you're still talking at the end of the process."

Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic's The Plank calls Obama's health care policy team "an interesting blend of policy intellectuals and veteran strategists, including a pair of M.D.s."