Category Archives: Health Insurance
Institute of Medicine Report on Essential Health Benefits
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th October 2011The Oct 20, 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine contains a summary of the report of the IOM mentioned with the above title. The sixth and final of their recommendations is very interesting: To ensure that the EHB-defined packages remain affordable and sustainable, the secretary should develop a strategy, in collaboration with others, for aligning…
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Social Welfare Programs and Drug Addiction
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th June 2011The current debate over how Medicare should be structured has seemed to me to be nothing more than each side declaring that their federally funded healthcare program is better than the other side’s. Paul Ryan’s plan to make Medicare (10 years hence) into a voucher system has been hailed by many as a serious and responsible modification…
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Massachusetts Medical Society Releases 2011 Study of Patient Access to Health Care
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th May 2011The Massachusetts Medical society released its 2011 study of the state’s medical insurance plan, often called Romneycare. It’s a pretty damning description of the plan. Wait times for a new patient to see a primary care doctor have increased. Similarly, wait times to see a specialist have also increased. The number of primary care doctors who accept…
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Unreasonable Health Insurance Premiums
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th August 2010New York Times columnist and Nobel prize winner in economics Paul Krugman is famous for his dedication to fiscal stimulus as an escape from our current economic woes. No matter how much money the government pumps into the economy he wants more if the result is not what is desired. Thus he is indulging in…
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Free Medical Care
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th July 2010The federal government has decreed that many medical tests and some types of medical care must be provided by health insurance companies without any co-pays. Among the new “free” services are some which are clearly of no overall health benefit. For example, cholesterol screening (which is specifically mentioned as a test that must be provided…
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Donald Berwick Nominated to Head CMS
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th May 2010Dr Donald Berwick has been nominated by President Obama to be director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Dr Berwick as the video below shows has some extreme views. He is guilty of a common error in logic – the exclusion of alternatives. In his view the only alternative to the US medical…
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Massachusetts Health Insurance Fiasco
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th April 2010There hasn’t been a lot of news coverage about what’s going on in the Bay State – draw your own conclusion why – but the state’s universal health insurance program is collapsing. There are only a handful of health insurance companies in Massachusetts and they’re all not for profits – no evil malefactors of wealth…
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Our National Fugue State
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th March 2010If you opened an umbrella in Times Square you could say you covered New York A sizable portion of the American political class seems to be mired in a prolonged fugue state (code 300.13). Their confusion has led them to the conviction that our nation’s well being will be served by a complex piece of…
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Ford, the UAW, and the Public Option
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd November 2009If you want any further proof that government run health insurance will run private health insurance into the ground look at Ford and the United Auto Workers. The union which along with the federal government owns GM and Chrysler has refused to adjust its contract with Ford to match that which it has with the…
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House Healthcare Bill
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th October 2009Below is the complete text of the House Healthcare Bill – all 1990 pages. I haven’t read it but a quick search finds “tax” in it about 275 times. I wonder if anyone has read it. House HCR bill
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About Neil Kurtzman
Neil A Kurtzman MD is the Grover E Murray Professor Emeritus and University Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Internal Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock. He has combined careers in clinical medicine, education, basic research, and administration for more than 30 years.› Read the biography
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