Today’s Opinions And Editorials
How The GOP Can Fix Health Care The New York TimesContributors to this Times' piece include Mark McClellan, James P. Pinkerton, Charles Kolb, Newt Gingrich and Bill Frist, who writes: "You simply need to pay people to do a good job, demand measurable outcomes and adopt proven standards of practice and information technology" (2/21).
The Elephant At The Health Care Summit The Washington Post
The summit will call attention to the elephant in the room that the most insipid commentary on the loss of bipartisanship pretends isn't there: There is no bipartisanship because Republicans have become an almost uniformly conservative party (E.J. Dionne Jr., 2/22).
Arena Digest: Reconciliation Pros, Cons Politico
On health policy, liberals in Congress are at once imprisoned by their narrow ideological certitudes and emboldened by their firm conviction that the rest of us are simply incapable of grasping what's good for us (Bob Moffit, 2/22).
Malpractice Reform: A Test Case For Bipartisanship At The Health Summit Kaiser Health News
The key is finding ways to fix the malpractice system so that it helps both physicians and the patients, rather than one at the expense of the other (Jonathan Cohn, 2/22).
Long-Term Care Hospitals Deserve Close Scrutiny St. Petersburg Times
Due to the spiraling cost, Medicare imposed a three-year moratorium on new long-term care hospitals that will expire in December. This moratorium should be renewed, and new payment rules need to be adopted to take away the financial incentives to treat patients as profit machines (2/22).
Policy Changes Alone Won't Improve Health Outcomes The Oklahoman
For the state to improve its health care ranking, a significant number of Oklahomans will need to change their diets, exercise frequently and give up tobacco (2/22).
Stop Medicare Advantage Plans From Exploiting Older Americans The Des Moines Register
But the best way Congress can help seniors is to eliminate federal subsidies to private insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans. That would result in eliminating these plans because they would no longer be profitable for companies (2/22). This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
