Earlier I noted the research of Peter Muennig, Zohn Rosen and Elizabeth Ty Wilde which proves (at all standard confidence intervals) that welfare reform killed people.  I was alarmed that almost nobody but the must read Bill Gardner noticed this research.  Now Dylan Matthews has a long excellent post on the research and other evidence that anti […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Conference Wrap-up So I do some conferences with a lot of people who are way smarter than me, people literally and figuratively on the cutting edge. What thoughts are dominating health care these days, especially the provider community? Here is a list of frequent talking points, further […]

Guest post by Michael Cahill The Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund: Why it needs to succeed for America’s Economic Future What will it take for the Affordable Care, known more commonly as Obamacare, to succeed? Realistically speaking it will take a lot of things for the ACA to be a real success, […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Rand Paul is a Loon, However….. Rand Paul told an Iowa crowd about “Obamacare codes” and listed some of the wackier codes. Problem is, he is referring to the ICD-10 adaptation, which was first set in motion by the Bush 43 administration. ICD-9 has about 17,000 diagnosis […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: On the Road Again The rest of the week is taken up with a conference, at which I will spend time with health professionals from all 50 states, the professionals including physicians and nurses, executives and managers, lawyers and CPAs, financiers, government regulators, consultants and media. Anyone […]

While Rusty touched on this aspect of the role of employers in enforcing some notion of promoting reducing cost for premiums through wellness programs using ‘carrot or stick’ incentives comes further discussion via Truthout on the changing role of health insurance in America: Numerous companies have redefined their health care incentive programs, focusing on punishment […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Carrot and Stick The Obama administration has issued regulations allowing employers to use both incentives and penalties in wellness programs. There is some controversy here, such as: employer plans setting and enforcing blood pressure and cholesterol standards punishing smokers (less controversial perhaps) – is this punishing addicts? there […]

Over at “Economists View,” Anne and Muses are having a discussion over why some 30-something million will be uninsured under the PPACA Paul Krugman: The Obamacare Shock. The conversation goes back and forth citing references without giving any real explanation of what the 31 million is composed of and why they will not be covered. […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: I really shouldn’t write this….. This will, if Dan publishes the piece, offend someone for certain. I have a libertarian do-your-own-thing streak, but something recently really struck me as a tragic image. So I am in the grocery store, and coming around the aisle hear the beep-beep […]

Compare: When people realize that their most personal, sensitive, intimate, private health-care information is in the hands of the IRS that’s been willing to use people’s tax information against political opponents of this administration, then people have pause and they pull back in horror. — Michele Bachmann, on ABC News/Yahoo, May 20 (H/T Glenn Kessler, […]