An Oldie But a Goodie: Escape Fire

Here’s a link to a personal review I wrote for Don Berwick’s Escape Fire: Designs for the Future of Health Care. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it for setting the context and the mission.

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How Do You Get People Who Can Afford it to Buy Health Insurance?

Do you scare the dickens out of them? I’d like to meet the creative team behind this commercial brought to the people of Ontario, Canada by their Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. (this video is definitely not for sensitive viewers, although you might just see it on TV if you’re channel surfing in Ontario)

Dispatches from the Field – January 21, 2008

For Every Vice, There’s a Price
As part of an ongoing effort to curb the runaway cost of providing health benefits, a small but growing number of companies are charging workers for habits like smoking, overeating and failing to exercise.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/15/pf/102902056.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2008011510

The Truth About Mandatory Health Insurance
WSJ Op-Ed – typically hard nosed WSJ editorial about getting people coverage, but some good points about catastrophic vs. comprehensive insurance for young people.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119941501118966929.html

A Health-Insurance Solution
The Health Care Choice Act would allow residents in one state to buy health insurance that is available in and regulated by another state.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119742880091722751.html?mod=sphere_ts

Employers Tell Workers To Get Healthy or Pay Up
In an effort to motivate workers to kick unhealthy habits, U.S. companies are hitting them where it hurts: in their wallets.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119674051866712859.html?mod=sphere_ts

The Nation’s Health Dollar

“Physician and Clinical Services” includes offices of physicians, outpatient care centers, and medical and diagnostic laboratories. “Other Spending” includes dentist services, other professional services, home health, durable medical products, over-the-counter medicines and sundries, public health, other personal health care, research, and structures and equipment. Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group.

Dispatches from the Field – January 2, 2008

Hospitals Slow in Heart Cases, Research Finds

In nearly a third of cases of sudden cardiac arrest in the hospital, the staff takes too long to respond, increasing the risk of brain damage and death, a new study finds.

Researchers estimate that the delays contribute to thousands of deaths a year in the United States.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/health/research/03heart.html?ex=1357016400&en=3d9a627e28ec54c9&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Fewer Small Firms Offer Health Insurance

Fewer small employers offered health insurance this year, despite the widespread availability of new, lower-cost high-deductible insurance plans, a survey released today by benefit firm Mercer shows.

Advocates of the high-deductible plans touted them as one solution to the growing number of uninsured, expecting the plans to appeal to small employers, who would continue to offer health insurance as a result.

“That’s not happening,” says Blaine Bos, a Mercer partner and one of the study authors. “In fact, the reverse is happening.”

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/insurance/2007-11-19-health-insure_N.htm

 

Students Face Health Issues Without Insurance After College

Patrick Rastelli ’08 had hoped to take a year off after graduating from Brown this spring. But after some thought, Rastelli decided to travel last summer instead, and when he graduates, he wants to get a job as quickly as possible. He’s not seeking prestige or money, but rather something most college students take for granted: health insurance.

http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2007/10/29/CampusNews/Graduating.To.The.Ranks.Of.The.Uninsured-3061887.shtml

Report Links Higher Rates of Uninsured and Suicide

The higher the percentage of residents in a state who say they can’t afford health care, the greater the prevalence of serious depression and the higher the suicide rate in that state, suggests a report released to USA TODAY.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-11-28-healthcare-suicide_N.htm