As the political heat increases with the presidential election approaching, health insurance companies are once again under fire. But as Adam Okun pointed out in his recent blog, it’s not just the insurance carriers. A recent Berkeley Research Group study highlights how every constituency in the system shares responsibility for rising healthcare costs. The federal… [Read More]
The AMA Votes Against Single Payer – but This Time Barely
In a significant shift, a recent American Medical Association (AMA) national annual meeting vote was just 3% short of supporting Medicare for All. This key medical provider group had long been overwhelmingly opposed to greater government control of healthcare, the basic premise of a single payer system, and has been considered a major obstacle to… [Read More]
Is Medicare for All an Option?
So here is the deal with U.S. healthcare. There are about 330 million Americans. Employers provide nearly half with access to healthcare, close to 40% are covered through government-funded programs, and remaining Americans either purchase individual coverage (much of which is subsidized under ACA) or are uninsured. Medicare provides coverage for nearly 60 million Americans (and… [Read More]
Warning – The Healthcare Status Quo Is at Risk
Whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was ever an effective way to combat the issues facing our healthcare system is arguable – but it is clear that our political process has not helped. The Commonwealth Fund recently reported that the uninsured rate for working-aged Americans (between 19 and 64) has increased from 12.7% in 2016 to… [Read More]
Gallup Has Surveyed ACA: What America is Saying about Health Reform
Gallup, the renowned polling organization, has been looking at the U.S. healthcare system, releasing two new studies in October, 2014. The first poll shows the uninsured rate is at its lowest point, 13.4%. ACA is meeting its goal of reducing the uninsured; this statistic represents a 3.7% decline since the imposition of the individual mandate…. [Read More]
When Serious Illness Hits Home, What Use Is the Political Theater of ACA?
Americans love a good political process story. In a presidential election, we obsess over poll numbers. With the rollout of the ACA, we’ve been focused endlessly on Republican/Democratic sparring, with the media gladly delivering the blow-by-blow. What is getting lost in this came home recently when a family member suffered an infection that lodged in… [Read More]
