The Road to Universal Coverage

Mike Magee New York Times columnists. Austin Frakt and Aaron Carroll, provided a genuine public service this week in offering an interactive exploration of universal health care. Readers were asked to react to the same questions presented to a bevy of health gurus. Their 5 “Yes or No” questions were: 1. Do you support automatic […]

“The Commitment to Mutuality is Fragile in the U.S.”, Says Berwick.

Mike Magee Earlier this month Donald Berwick published a thoughtful article in JAMA titled “Politics and Health.” It touched on a range of themes that I addressed in a speech in 2005 at the Library of Congress. In that speech, I said, “There is a growing political disconnect between those who make health policy and those […]

Yearning for Universal Coverage Is Not Universal

Many still view universal coverage with apprehension, not anticipationEveryone wants universal health coverage, right? Not quite. As I pointed out in a recent opinion piece for the Washington Post, the yearning for universal health care is far from universal. The reaction to that article – about 160 posted comments or direct emails to me – […]

Huckabee-Style Health Reform

Morally and physically fit Back in November, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee wrote a remarkably candid essay for a special election issue of the trade journal Modern Healthcare. Since then, the former Arkansas governor’s campaign has morphed from single-digit obscurity to mainstream prominence, and the candor on health care has mostly been scrubbed clean from […]

Tom Daschle on Reform

Former U.S. Senate leader is well aware of the health care challenges aheadFormer Senator and Majority/Minority Leader Daschle gave the opening address on the 2nd day of the Families USA Health Action conference. Mr. Daschle has a new book coming out in March on America’s health system and our past efforts to fix it. I […]

Employers, Massachusetts and Health Insurance

David Wessel, in his Wall Street Journal column on April 12 hits on a recent HP topic — the future of the employer-based U.S. health care system. Here’s what he had to say: “The notion that requiring employers to provide health insurance is the best route to universal health care is fading. Sure, nearly 60% of […]