Today's opinions and editorials

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Dec 3 2009

Health Reform Must Go Forward The Boston Globe
Defenders of the status quo in health care would happily let the drive for reform bog down amid a debate over President Obama's new war strategy. Democrats can't let this happen (12/3).

A Subsidy For Those Most In Need The Washington Post
Unless Congress and the president act soon, many unemployed workers and their dependents may lose their health insurance if a federal subsidy to help them pay for the coverage isn't extended (Michelle Singletary, 12/3).

Medicare Cuts And Other D.C. Fairy Tales The New York Daily News
As a psychiatrist, I'll break the bad news gently: Medicare cuts are like Santa Claus and his flying reindeers -- often talked about, never actually seen (Dr. David Gratzer, 12/3).

Debating Cost-Control Kaiser Health News
Indeed, the crucial question in the entire reform debate has always been this: what process has the best chance of bringing about continual improvement in the efficiency and quality of patient care? (James Capretta, 12/3).

Getting The Facts Straight The New England Journal Of Medicine
Despite the many reasons to be excited about this legislative breakthrough, skeptics abound. … But the primary criticisms of the bills are largely unwarranted (Jonathan Gruber, 12/2).

Cancer Screening The Salt Lake Tribune
[O]n closer examination, the science behind the USPSTF report, which recommends against routine mammograms for women age 40 to 49 and for biennial instead of annual screenings for women 50 to 74, makes some sense (12/2).

The Long Hot Winter The New York Times
The way things are going, we should get to a vote at about the same time that the president is planning to get the troops out of Afghanistan (Gail Collins, 12/2).

This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.