Health Insurance

Universal Coverage, “Obamacare,” and the Supreme Court

March 25, 2012 Federal Government

Be careful what you wish for. Coming up this week will be extensive, multi-day arguments before the US Supreme Court on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), labeled derisively by the right as “Obamacare” and perhaps increasing embraced by the Left as “Obamacare.” As Vice President Biden said at the signing ceremony, “this […]

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Significant Decline in Employment Based Health Benefits Resulted from the Great Recession

March 21, 2012 Economics

Employment based health benefits have been declining steadily, but significantly for a long time. But the recent “Great Recession” accelerated that decline much more than my pessimistic self anticipated. From the National Institute for Health Care Reform (a non-profit established by the International Union, UAW; Chrysler Group LLC; Ford Motor Company; and General Motors): Between […]

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New Health Plan Deliberately Excludes High Cost Hospitals & Other Providers

March 21, 2012 Economics

By Robert Weisman from the Boston Globe: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is teaming up with more than 50 hospitals and 16,500 doctors across the state to offer Massachusetts employers and their workers a 10 percent savings on health insurance by forming what they call a “focused network’’ of medical care groups that excludes Partners HealthCare […]

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What Happened to Health Coverage Around 1980, What happened the Last Dozen Years and Why it Still Makes a Difference

December 12, 2011 Economics

Interesting chart (the second one) posted by Lane Kenworthy today and some interesting debates and here on when the US healthcare system performance began to look different from the rest of the world. Kenworthy’s chart depicts the relationship between health expenditures per capita and life expectancy. Here’s my contribution from a while back, while I […]

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