Latest Blogs
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Kim and Todd Saxton: Go for the gold! But maybe not every time.
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Q&A: What you need to know about the CDC’s new mask guidance
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Carmel distiller turns hand sanitizer pivot into a community fundraising platform
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Lebanon considering creating $13.7M in trails, green space for business park
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Local senior-living complex more than doubles assisted-living units in $5M expansion
Indy hospitals, doctors should start a price war
The choice for health care providers is binary: either limit patient choice through restricted networks or preserve patient choice by making price transparency real and usable. Hospitals and doctors would be better served by the latter.
Life sciences jobs pack 2-for-1 punch
While life sciences companies don’t rack up huge jobs numbers, their relatively high pay means that every job they create is worth two in the rest of the private sector.
What happens if Pence, Sebelius can’t make a deal?
Even if Gov. Mike Pence and Obama’s health secretary can’t come to terms this weekend, there are ideas bouncing around the state legislature that suggest other ways Indiana could expand coverage to low-income Hoosiers.
The weightlessness of Obamacare
Rich employer benefits are not always so attractive, sick patients are not always money losers for insurers, and hospitals and doctors are now health care preventers rather than health care providers. This is the bizarre world to which Obamacare has brought us.
Hospitals’ worries about Obamacare plans misplaced
The latest enrollment data from the Obamacare exchanges show that three out of four Hoosiers are purchasing decent coverage—not the super high-deductible plans that concerned hospitals.
Generous employer benefits now hurt some workers
Ever since World War 2, when employers started using health benefits to compete for workers, the less employees had to pay toward health insurance premiums the more attractive the benefits. But under Obamacare, this axiom will not always be true.
Size matters: Big hospitals with largest market shares charge highest prices
A new study of 10 cities, including Indianapolis, gives a picture of how big hospitals have been battling with big health insurers over prices—and winning.
Despite exchange roller coaster, WellPoint says it’s all going according to plan
Since WellPoint says it’s not losing money on the exchanges—at this point—that’s encouraging news for those who would like the Obamacare exchanges to remain a viable option.
St. Vincent hospitals not quite as rich as they seem
St. Vincent Health has been sending roughly $50 million to $70 million every year to its parent company, St. Louis-based Ascension Health, to support other hospitals in Ascension’s 93-hospital network.
My own Obamacare math says small employers will, indeed, drop coverage
In my financial situation, I could save from 2 percent to 30 percent buying health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges. I suspect a lot of small companies and their workers will see similar results.
Hopelessly divided Congress agrees on one thing: Cutting payments to providers
Congress’ recent willingness to play hardball with providers is driving providers to cautiously embrace concepts—like pay-for-performance and keeping patients out of the hospitals—they have long resisted.
OK, I’m convinced: Hospitals actually are transforming
There are clear signs that hospitals nationally, and even here in Indianapolis, are actually starting to make good on their promises to keep patients healthier and out of the hospital.
Looks like both sides are wrong about Medicaid
New research shows that expanding Medicaid won’t save money, in spite of the claims of Obamacare supporters, but it will provide modest help to patients’ health and pocketbooks, in spite of conservative critics’ contention to the contrary.
Crux of Medicaid showdown is how to fight poverty
When Gov. Mike Pence tries next month to negotiate a Medicaid expansion deal in a meeting with the Obama administration, it will be a clash of the conservative and liberal approaches to fighting poverty.
No one likes Obamacare
Obamacare has officially arrived, but both conservatives and liberals are calling it awful. That means the real debate over health reform is just beginning.
For the holidays: A hopeful, health care reading list
In the Christmas spirit of hope, I’m offering a reading list of several optimistic reports about health care reform—even though many of my recent posts, and the mood of the country in general, have been decidedly downbeat.
Medicare names names on hospital quality, but don’t expect consumers to notice
The Obama administration has been releasing more price and quality information, but it is coming in a rather useless form for patients. That’s a problem for the prospects of consumer-driven health care.
Sorry, docs, but Obamacare will suffer from a shortage
There is good evidence that new technology deployed via new methods of medicine across the entire health care system can reduce the need for physicians. But there are too many barriers for such changes to occur in time to cut off the surge in demand brought on by Obamacare.