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The Supreme Court Challenge A SPECIAL SECTION Will the Supreme Court overturn the Obama Administration's attempt to reshape the health care industry? THCB's experts address this question and many others around the political fight in Washington over the future of health care.

 

• Doctor Versus Doctor

  By Jim deMaine

  By Jim deMaine I felt sad when I went to make rounds in the hospital. One of my patients, a colleague, had been readmitted in poor condition for recurrence of a primary lung sarcoma. I spent a few minutes examining Dennis and chatting.  He then, with a quizzical look, said, “Jim, I’m going to have...

• What if We Regulated Legal Services Like Health Care?

  By John R. Graham

  By John R. Graham Well, the future of American health care is now controlled by lawyers. That may not be news – doctors, drug makers, and medical-device makers have long complained about the cost of lawsuits. But this different: The future of PPACA is in the hands of the Supreme Court. Hundreds of lawyers billed...

• How Obama Botched and Bungled the Health Reform Message

  By Michael Millenson

  By Michael L. Millenson While it’s comforting to just blame the GOP for the unhappiness with health reform threatening the president’s re-election, the truth is that Barack Obama repeatedly botched, bungled and bobbled the health reform message. There were three big mistakes: The Passionless Play While Candidate Obama proclaimed a passionate moral commitment to fix...

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• Washington Stuck Fighting Wrong Health-Care Battle

  By Peter R. Orszag

  By Peter R. Orszag While Washington wonks continue to bicker over health policy, positive change is occurring outside the Beltway. Last week, the Altarum Institute, a research organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, reported that the moderation in the growth of health-care costs we have seen over the past few years is continuing: Total health...

• Is the Fact that I Am a Woman Considered a Pre-Existing Condition?

  By Maggie Mahar

  By Maggie Mahar The male body has long been considered the “standard” for health care coverage. Having a woman’s body is seen as an expensive anomaly, and women pay dearly for being different. When they buy their own health insurance in the individual market, women must lay out an extra $1 billion a year, simply...

• Crossing the Line

  By James Salwitz, MD

  By James Salwitz, MD Recently a patient with advanced lung cancer was admitted to a local hospital.  Pain in his abdomen was diagnosed as a gallbladder infection. Because he had metastatic cancer, in addition to the new problem, the patient and family decided that if things deteriorated he should not be given CPR or put...

• Is There a Republican Alternative to ObamaCare?

  By John Goodman

  “GOP to the Uninsured: (Feel Free to) Drop Dead.” So reads the title Michael Millenson post at the Health Care Blog yesterday. It gets worse: [N]o Republican presidential candidate has ever presented a serious plan to cover all the uninsured … The difference between Democrats and this generation of Republicans — unfortunately including even the...

• A Safety Checklist for Patients

  By Peter Pronovost, MD

  Far too many patients are harmed rather than helped from their interactions with the health care system. While reducing this harm has proven to be devilishly difficult, we have found that checklists help. Checklists help to reduce ambiguity about what to do, to prioritize what is most important, and to clarify the behaviors that are...

• Digital Diet

  By Bob Wachter, MD

  It’s been said that losing weight is much harder than kicking cigarettes or alcohol. After all, because one doesn’t need to smoke or drink, the offending substances can simply be kept out of sight (if not out of mind). Dieting, on the other hands, involves changing the way a person does something we all must...

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