Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries

"Blog Watch" offers readers a roundup of health policy-related blog posts.

The American Prospect's Ezra Klein offers a primer on a public insurance plan option.

Jeffrey Young on the Atlantic Monthly's Brave New Deal reports on his discussion with AstraZeneca CEO David Brennan about comparative effectiveness research and whether it could lead to government rationing. Brennan said, "It is an opportunity to bring into the clinical-decision process more evidence."

James Capretta of Diagnosis says that President Obama's current cost-containment proposals "will do virtually nothing to slow the pace of rising costs, even after the 'investments' are given plenty of time to kick in." Capretta continues, "[The administration is] hoping they can pass their massive coverage-expansion plan this year without endorsing the heavy-handed, government-driven cost-control measures they actually favor."

John Iglehart and Chris Fleming of the Health Affairs Blog interview Jonathan Oberlander about controversial political aspects of health reform, including budget reconciliation, a public plan option and the tax treatment of employer-sponsored health insurance.

Brian Klepper of the Health Care Blog looks at health insurers' failure to control health costs over the last decade and says CIGNA "appears to be sincere, focused and far ahead of other plans in creating a new, very powerful model of health care delivery that does actually heed the lessons of the last 20 years."

Caitlin Outterson of Health Care For All's A Healthy Blog previews content in an upcoming PBS Frontline special, "Sick Around America."

Insure Blog's Henry Stern discusses a lawsuit by individuals who are challenging the penalty for failing to enroll in Medicare.

Marilyn Weber Serafini of the National Journal's Health Care Expert Blog asks, "What is the biggest mistake that policymakers could make when it comes to employer mandates? What have we learned from the employer mandates in Massachusetts, and what could make these mandates a deal-breaker for reform?" Responders include Denis Cortese, James Gelfand, John Goodman and Jason Rosenbaum.

Uwe Reinhardt of the New York Times' Economix explains some of the economic aspects of health care and says, "Ambitious as he is, the president would like to reform all of these facets."


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