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Dr. Denis Cortese, president and chief executive officer of the Mayo Clinic, offered Washington a healthy dose of insight about the crucial importance of patient-focused care during a speech at the National Press Club on Good Friday. Mayo is renowned worldwide for its expertise in medical diagnosis, and Dr. Cortese drew on these capabilities to help policymakers think differently and more … [Read more...] about Healthy Insights

A new survey that is highly critical of consumer-directed health care is getting attention in the media, and once again, we need to tell you what it really says. The Commonwealth Fund and the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) have produced the third in a series of studies that we can only believe reflects an agenda to show that CDHC is a failure. The Commonwealth website, for example, … [Read more...] about The True Story

A gold standard in health policy is finding ways to improve care, save money, and enlist patients in better managing their chronic conditions. And we have new evidence of the success of a program that is doing just that. The Asheville Project began several years ago, enlisting local pharmacists to monitor and help manage the health of diabetes patients and coach them about using their medicines … [Read more...] about Gold Standard

Now that it appears the Democratic presidential contest will keep going for some time, health care will continue to be a major topic of debate. While most of the disagreement between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has focused on universal coverage -- and particularly an individual mandate -- that dispute is actually overshadowing how many similarities there are between their two health … [Read more...] about What They Agree On

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has been boasting that his state's health reform initiative has reduced the number of uninsured by half, with nearly 300,000 more people added to the health insurance rolls. What he doesn't say is that four out of five of them are relying heavily on taxpayer subsidies for their coverage. Of the 293,000 people newly insured in Massachusetts: 160,000 earn … [Read more...] about Massachusetts Struggles

Following up on my commentary of last week about the National Federation of Independent Business joining forces with a big labor union and the AARP on health care, I inaccurately said that the NFIB sponsored the Harry and Louise ads about the Clinton health reform plan in the 1990s. In fact, the ads were produced by the Health Insurance Association of America. My apologies for the error. But the … [Read more...] about What Do Consumers Want?

The National Federation of Independent Business has been one of the stalwart defenders of health freedom. But its recent association with two activist liberal groups is raising eyebrows around town. The NFIB was a leader in the 1990s in explaining to the American people the restrictions and complexities of the Clinton health reform initiative and the loss of freedom to Americans and especially … [Read more...] about Very Strange Bedfellows

The grand universal health plan of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders in the California legislature collided with reality this week. The plan to expand health insurance to five million more people, while wrapping the state's health sector in miles of new red tape and burdening businesses with new mandates and taxes, was resoundingly defeated by a crucial committee. It … [Read more...] about California Faces Reality