Healthcare

Health care reform turns against patients? Mr. President!

April 24, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

<p> Early accounts of Senator Max Baucus's press-only speech at the national press club are chilling.  The Democratic Senate Finance Committee Chairman not only said he was shelving the president's plan for a public option to the private health insurance market, but he also hinted at superceding state patients' rights laws that guarantee benefits like cancer care, second opinions, a panel of independent doctors to overturn HMO denials and lawsuits against HMOs. </p>

Insurers’ mouthpiece in the Senate

April 21, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> I watched today's Senate "Roundtable Discussion" <a href="http://finance.senate.gov/hearings/other/hearing042109.ram">(video link)</a> on reforming health care delivery to learn from the propsals of the committee and invited speakers. What made the biggest impression, though, had nothing to do with delivery of care. It was the bogus "reason" for most GOP members' <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/04/21/panel_approves_hhs_nominee.html?hpid=news-col-blog">vote against Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius</a>, President Obama's nominee to oversee health care.  </p>

Patents hinder research on neural stem cells

April 15, 2009  ·  John M. Simpson

A nonprofit Orange County research institute's efforts to promote research with human neural stem cells has effectively been blocked by a stem cell company's patents.<br/> <br/> The ...

Health insurers fake senior support

April 14, 2009  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> According to <a href="http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_103032149.html">this story</a> in the Massachusetts-based Eagle-Tribune the health insurance industry lobbying group, America's Health Insurance Plans, is trying to get local newspapers to run fake letters from senior citizens that contain glowing praise for the insurance industry's Medicare Advantage plans. </p>

Is Washington even listening on health reform?

April 7, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/opinion/07tue1.html">lead editorial</a> in the New York Times today neatly sums up what health non-profits, informed patients and consumer advocates are seeking in health care reform, a "public option" to provide a sort of free-market alternative to the unbeloved private insurance companies. Yet at the same time, the Senate's lead developer on health reform, Sen. Max Baucus, is demanding more "compromise" with opponents of that public option (see below). Who's reflecting what Americans need? </p>

White House needs to get tough on health care costs

April 6, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

"Prevention" was the word of morning at the White House Western forum on health care reform in downtown LA. Led by Oprah's Dr. Oz, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire, the assembled "stakeholders" rattled off how prevention pays in health care.

Price Of Care

April 4, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

As medical costs soar, and hospitals charge more and recoup less for their services, consumer advocates worry that patients - particularly the increasing numbers of underinsured - are getting caught in the middle, stuck with confusing medical bills they can't possibly pay. "We don't have any kind of planning, oversight or rationalization to pricing," said Jerry Flanagan, health policy director for Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog. "As doctors, hospitals and insurance companies are warring, patients wind up paying more."

What Obama can learn from Arnold

April 3, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

<p> Monday Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose own attempts at statewide health care reform failed last year, hosts a White House summit in L.A. on national reforms. It's not likely to be talked about but Obama can learn alot from Schwarzenegger's failure. </p>

FRONTLINE on healthcare system not to be missed

April 3, 2009  ·  Doug Heller

Last night's FRONTLINE TV program on PBS about America's broken healthcare system was outstanding and is worth watching whether you're a concerned citizen or the head of the Senate Finance Committee... Fortunately, it's available online. Click <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundamerica/view/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here to watch it</a>.

What “rationing” really means

April 3, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> The early messengers of health-care doom and socialism aren't looking so good. Start with Rick Scott, the disgraced former head of fraud-ridden health care company Columbia/HCA. Then there's Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, who huffily says he only wants to protect Americans from government-determined health care, but is near the top Congressional recipients of health insurance and pharmaceutical bucks. Here's the gist from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/us/politics/02scott.html?">today's New York Times story on Scott,</a> who left HCA in shame but with hundreds of millions in company stock. </p>

Consumer Advocate Jamie Court Cites Risks Of Electronic Medical Records

March 31, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, has pushed the patients' rights movement in the United States for more than a decade by sponsoring successful laws in California. As part of his work for the California-based nonprofit, Court is closely watching Google's and Microsoft's entry into the electronic medical records field. He spoke with The Plain Dealer about patient privacy and his concerns in the digital age.

Single-Payer Health Bill Introduced In U.S. Senate As Fiscal Savings Measure

March 28, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Members of Congress have been heavily lobbied by the health care industry. Since 2005, the insurance industry has donated $2.2 million and drug companies donated more than $3.3 million to Congress members influential in shaping health care policy, according to Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group based in California.