Monthly Archives: January 2006

Want to understand why we can’t control health care costs? Check out today’s not-to-be-missed New York Times story on the sorry state of diabetes care in the US. Bottom line — we know what works, and a number of innovative … Continue reading →

We’ve been trying to get our hands on it for a long time, and in today’s Globe, Steve Bailey provides the first public look at the Health Reform White Paper prepared for Mitt Romney in May 2004 by his then-Health … Continue reading →

Here’s a bit on a new report from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (yeah, I read it on the subway — not!). Approximately one in four donated hearts in the U.S. comes from the ranks of the … Continue reading →

Here’s an example from today of the kind of work Health Care For All’s Helpline does every day. The call was handled by Kate Bicego, one of HCFA’s fabulous and hardworking Helpline counselors: 1/10/2006 11:04:14 AM – kbicego: A 17 … Continue reading →

Today, Massachusetts joined with at least four other states to assume emergency responsibility for low income seniors who have been unable to obtain prescriptions under the new federal drug benefit plan. Here’s an explanation from HCFA’s Melissa Shannon: For low … Continue reading →

Unexplored in media accounts of health reform is the issue of the future of federal Medicaid funding for the Commonwealth. Easy to understand why — this issue is complex beyond the patience of most readers. It’s also crucial. Here’s a … Continue reading →

Looks like we’re on a slow path to health reform agreement in the MA legislature. So we’ll take a number of daily blogs to present some background on key reform issues. Issue #1 — Many have heard that there’s a … Continue reading →

Adapted from today’s New York Times: Lawmakers in 30 states are preparing to introduce bills that would require large corporations to increase their spending on employee health insurance, the New York Times reports. Although the bills vary slightly in different … Continue reading →

Here’s an unusual development. The Senate-House Conference Committee on Health Reform, appointed last November, has met three times, most recently on Tuesday, with another meeting scheduled for next week. Today, the three Senate conferees sent a letter to Rep. Pat … Continue reading →

Yesterday’s New York Times has an account of a new study on the compelling problem of racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care: “Black patients with treatable lung cancer are less likely to undergo comprehensive diagnostic procedures and … Continue reading →