Hot Topics: Health Policy & Insurance

Blog Posts (20)

February 18, 2015

Precision Medicine Has Imprecise Ethics

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

How do physicians diagnose disease? First they go through a set of symptoms and then compile a list of differential diagnoses or what the underlying disease may be.…

January 23, 2015

ACA Report Card: One Year of Obamacare and the Individual Insurance Mandate

by Craig M. Klugman

The United States has passed a milestone, the first year of the Affordable Care Act’s insurance mandate.…

September 18, 2014

A simple change? The IOM Report on “Dying in America”

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Say there was a simple change that could be made to the health care system that would reduce cost, reduce demand, increase patient’s quality of life and satisfaction, address the whole patient and not just the disease, improve care coordination, and increase patient autonomy.…

July 10, 2014

Time to Divorce Health Insurance & Employment

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

In my last blog, I talked about ideologically-backed corporate control of health care choices as a result of the U.S.…

April 21, 2014

Senator Advances Bill To Pay Medicare Beneficiaries to Register Advance Directives

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

U.S. Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) along with Senators Christopher Coons (D-DE) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced a bill to the U.S.…

February 18, 2014

Freedom for the corporation, religious servitude for the individual

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Many women in this country gained insurance coverage for their contraceptive costs under the controversial Affordable Care Act (ACA).…

January 1, 2014

The Year in Bioethics That Was

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Happy New Year. The ending of one year and the beginning of another is often a time for reflection, for reviewing the year that has passed and for making plans/predictions for the year to come.…

December 19, 2013

A Call to Physicians: To Do No Further Harm, or Ethical Practice as Just Distribution of Healthcare

Bandy X. Lee, M.D.

*Primum non nocere*, to first do no harm, is the unchanging foundation for Hippocratic medical ethics. Each generation must, nevertheless, redefine what “doing no harm” means for its time.…

October 3, 2013

Health Care for All in the Year 2154

By Jessica Jerome, PhD

Imagine a world where the wealthy separate themselves off from everyone else, living in mansions with perfectly coiffed lawns, enjoying long and healthy lives of sedentary pleasure.…

October 1, 2013

Purchasing Health Insurance as a Civic Duty

by Kayhan Parsi, JD, PhD

Every fall, I co-teach a course on justice and health care.  In this course, my students and I discuss various theories of justice, examine different health systems, and reflect on what kind of society we live in. …

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Published Articles (1)

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 13 Issue 9 - Sep 2013

An Ethical Analysis of Mandatory Influenza Vaccination of Health Care Personnel: Implementing Fairly and Balancing Benefits and Burdens Armand H. Matheny Antommaria

News (77)

January 28, 2015 5:56 pm

The coming revolution in much cheaper life-saving drugs

Randy Hillard’s life was saved by a drug that has cost $1 million over the last couple years to keep him alive. He’s now on an FDA panel that approved the first in a new class of life-saving drugs that are much cheaper.

January 20, 2015 7:16 pm

Fight threatens thousands of Californians' health coverage

A contract dispute between health insurance provider Blue Shield of California and the Sutter Health network of doctors and hospitals is threatening to force nearly 280,000 consumers in Northern and Central California to find new doctors.

November 10, 2014 6:49 pm

Medicare proposes covering lung cancer scans for heavy smokers

The U.S. Medicare program is proposing to add lung cancer screening tests for beneficiaries with a history of heavy smoking, the federal government announced on Monday.

November 10, 2014 2:35 pm

A Plan to Cut Costs and Crime: End Hurdle to Job After Prison

James White had steeled himself for the moment. But when he got to the question on the job application — Have you ever been convicted of a crime? — he shifted nervously in his seat.

October 15, 2014 4:45 pm

Guatemala may weigh softer drug punishments in liberalization push

Guatemala will weigh easing punishments for minor narcotics-related offenses as part of a push to liberalize drug policy and explore regulating production of opium poppies and marijuana for medical use, President Otto Perez said.

October 8, 2014 2:14 pm

Wal-Mart raises healthcare costs, cuts benefits for some part-timers

Taking away access to healthcare, even though many of my co-workers couldn’t afford it anyway, is just another example of Walmart manipulating the system to keep workers in a state of financial crisis.

September 24, 2014 4:50 pm

HHS: Health law will lead to big drop in free hospital care

The Affordable Care Act will lead to $5.7 billion in savings in uncompensated hospital care costs this year, the Obama Administration said Wednesday, reducing one of the biggest financial challenges hospitals face.

September 11, 2014 2:54 pm

Health Reform Watch: Study finds fewer deaths after MA health reform

In this edition of Health Reform Watch: Harvard Asst. Professor Ben Sommers explains his widely-quoted study showing a measurable drop in adult deaths in Massachusetts in the wake of the state’s health reform program, the model for the Affordable Care Act.

September 8, 2014 6:47 pm

Top U.S. health adviser wants end to partisan fighting over Obamacare

President Barack Obama’s top health adviser on Monday called for an end to partisan bickering over Obamacare, saying the public and businesses are sending a clear message to Washington that it is time to move on with implementing the law.

July 30, 2014 5:14 pm

Teen Cancer Survivor Needs New Teeth, Insurance Company Refuses to Pay

His insurance paid to have the dead teeth removed, but won’t pay for new ones. [The insurance] said it wasn’t a medical issue and of course it’s from a medical issue.

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