Health Policy Digest - September 29, 2009

September 29, 2009

HOW MISSOURI CUT JUNK LAWSUITS

States are demonstrating that tort reform lowers health care costs, expands access and creates jobs, says Matt Blunt (R), a former governor of Missouri...

WALL STREET JOURNAL

ONE-IN-SIX PATIENTS MISDIAGNOSED IN GREAT BRITAIN

If you are a patient in Great Britain's government run health care scheme, you have a one-in-six chance of being misdiagnosed, according to observers...

THE TELEGRAPH

SENATOR BAUCUS DECLARES WAR ON THE MIDDLE CLASS

The health care reform bill authored by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) will require every American to buy a health insurance plan that will be designed in Washington and (through time) be shaped and molded by special interest pressures or pay a hefty tax, says John C. Goodman, President, CEO and the Kellye Wright Fellow with the NCPA...

NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS

APPLYING THE LESSONS OF STATE HEALTH REFORM

One reason health insurance policies are so expensive in New Jersey is that state regulations require insurers to sell policies to all applicants, including people who wait until they become sick to buy coverage (so-called guaranteed issue), says Michael Bond, a senior fellow with the NCPA...

NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS

OBAMACARE IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH

The health care reform bill of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), would start off by imposing annual fees of $6.7 billion on health insurance companies, $4 billion on medical device producers, $2.3 billion on drug manufacturers and $750 million on clinical laboratories, all of which would surely be passed on to consumers in higher prices, says Pete du Pont, Chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis...

WALL STREET JOURNAL

MEDICAID EXPANSIONS

Expansion of Medicaid eligibility causes people to drop their private coverage (which allows them access to a broad array of providers) in order to join the public plan (where access is much more narrow), says John C. Goodman, President, CEO and the Kellye Wright Fellow of the National Center for Policy Analysis...

NATIONAL JOURNAL