AIG--The Feds Did the Right Thing and Only They Could Have Done It!

There is that old saying: "There are the bears, the bulls, and the pigs--and the pigs get slaughtered."This past weekend I witnessed the most incredible thing I had ever seen in the insurance industry with the demise of the world's largest insurer--AIG. AIG was not just a company--it was a legend in the industry.Now, a couple of days later, that has been trumped--in spades--by the United States

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The Pretend Presidential Debate on Health Care--The Health Care Press Needs to Force the Presidential Candidates to Get Real on Health Care "Change"

Let's pretend that either Senator Obama or Senator McCain will be able to implement their respective health care reform plans if elected. Should be easy--we've been doing it for months now.Or, we can get real and expect them to do the same.For all the arguments both are making that they are change agents, including over the candidates' competing health care reform proposals, is this dirty little

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"Lipstick on a Pig"--The McCain Campaign is Defining the Fight

The quickest route to a political loss is to let the oppostion define the fight.Anyone who listened to just 10 seconds of the Obama "lipstick on a pig" sound bite knows he wasn't talking about the Alaska governor.But what this whole dust-up tells us is that the McCain campaign is defining the debate and the Obama side can't get their message out.Not that long ago the Obama campaign was

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Comparing John McCain's Health Care Plan to Barack Obama's Health Care Plan

Now that the political conventions are over we are in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. Here is my primer on both of the candidates' health care reform plans and the the big idea difference between them.Comparing Barack Obama's Health care plan to John McCain's health care plan:What's the Big Idea Difference?A Detailed Analysis of Senator John McCain's Health Care Reform PlanA

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The Long-Term Viability of Medicare Advantage--Why Aren't the Analysts Asking for the Numbers to Add-Up?

I have been struck by the optimism regarding private Medicare presented by health plan executives during the recent earnings season and the analysts failure to press them on just how their numbers will add-up to sustain the long-term viability of a private Medicare strategy.The typical private Medicare health plan operates on a medical cost ratio in the mid-80s. Let's assume 86% for medical costs

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The Cost of the Massachusetts Health Insurance Law is "Less Than Expected"

That was the conclusion in a recent New York Times editorial, not to mention the growing spin coming out of Massachusetts, regarding the state's new health plan.As I have said before on this blog:Massachusetts finally took a first big step in health care reform--something no one else has been able to do in Washington, DC or elsewhere and that is to be commended.The Massachusetts Health Insurance

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Do Certificate of Need Programs Reduce Costs? Governor Palin Says "No" But Lots of Data Say "Yes"

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hasn't done a lot on the health care policy front during her short time as Governor but one thing she has called for is an end to Alaska's Certificate of Need (CON) program requiring preapproval for any new health care facility.CON programs are about government management of health care capacity and it should be no surprise that a conservative

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