New Kaiser Daily health blog watch

May 28 2008

While mainstream news coverage is still a primary source of information for the latest in policy debates and the health care marketplace, online blogs have become a significant part of the media landscape, often presenting new perspectives on policy issues and drawing attention to under-reported topics.

To provide complete coverage of health policy issues, the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report offers readers a window into the world of blogs in a new roundup of health policy-related blog posts. "Blog Watch," published on Tuesdays and Fridays, tracks a wide range of blogs, providing a brief description and relevant links for highlighted posts.

The American Prospect's Ezra Klein describes his experience using Google Health's new online personal health record.

Cato@Liberty Blog's Michael Cannon considers Republican and conservative support for Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-Ore.) Healthy Americans Act, which he compares to the Medicare Advantage program. Conn Carroll of The Foundry Blog offers a different take on Wyden's plan.

Trudy Lieberman at the Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign Desk Blog discusses other bloggers Jonathan Cohn and Klein's reactions to a series of interviews with various senators about health reform in The Hill.

Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag provides a detailed overview of the methods behind CBO's new study on potential costs and benefits of increased health information technology adoption.

The Health Affairs Blog posted commentaries -- one by David Kindig and a second by Cathy Schoen -- on a paper in the May/June issue titled "Triple Aim: Improving the Individual Experience of Care; Improving the Health of Populations; and Reducing the Per Capita Costs of Care for Populations."

Health Beat's Maggie Mahar provides an overview of medical malpractice, including controversies over the cost of and incidence of malpractice, as well as reform efforts.

The Health Care Blog's Donald Johnson discusses a new bill that will allow the sale of low-cost, bare-bones health insurance policies in Florida.

Jason Shafrin of the Health Care Economist hosted the most recent edition of Health Wonk Review, a biweekly compendium of more than two dozen health policy, infrastructure, insurance, technology and managed care bloggers. A different participant's blog hosts each issue.

Lisa Kaplan Howe of Health Care For All links to a discussion of high deductible health plans and notes that the Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector excluded HDHPs from minimum coverage requirements.

Jane Sarasohn-Kahn blogs at Health Populi about a new Society of Actuaries study that finds pre-retirees and retirees cite paying for long-term care and inflation of health care costs as key concerns.

Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters examines presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) health care plan and whether it could increase the number of uninsured residents by destabilizing the employer-based health care system. Robert Laszewski of Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review builds off of Paduda's post to argue that McCain's market-based plan reforms might work well for some voters, as long as advisers present certain changes carefully. Bob Vineyard of Insure Blog reacts to a Slate article and discusses McCain's proposal to allow individuals to purchase insurance across state lines. Peter Harbage from the Wonk Room Blog discusses a new Center for American Progress Action Fund paper about McCain's health care plan and administrative costs.

Joanne Kennen from the New America Foundation's New Health Dialogue reports on comments by presidential candidate health advisers and the Washington Post's David Broder on the candidates' plans and the prospects for a health reform debate. They spoke at a briefing for Kaiser Family Foundation media fellows and other journalists.

Jacob Goldstein from the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog reports on a statement from the Massachusetts Medical Society that it is suing the state over its physician ranking program.