Category: Matthew Holt

Matthew Holt is the founder and publisher of The Health Care Blog and still writes regularly for the site and hosts the #THCBGang and #HealthInTwoPoint00 video shows/podcasts. He was co-founder of the Health 2.0 Conference and now also does advisory work mostly for health tech startups at his consulting firm SMACK.health.

A vote for single payer, austerity-style

Jan 20, 2010• 13

By MATTHEW HOLT

I spent summer 1984 in Boston and generally found it an oppressively hot place. I’ve spent a few winter days there and found it an oppressively cold place. I’ve always thought that, given the absence of passport controls, if you lived there and could move to California and didn’t, you were probably crazy. And yesterday the residents of that fair state proved me right.

As I said earlier this week, it now appears that health care reform is dead. I just can’t see a scenario in which there are 60 votes to pass anything. I also don’t see the Dems having the cojones to go to reconciliation or to cram the current Senate bill through the House quickly. Instead (as Bob Laszewski says below) the moderate Dems will run for their lives away from health insurance reform—although I just don’t understand what Bob thinks “reform” would have meant if it had really required 6–10 Republican Senators.

So my prediction is that we end up with nothing.

Thinking the unthinkable–no Health Care bill?

Jan 18, 2010• 76

Matthew Holt

By MATTHEW HOLT

After a resounding Democratic Presidential election win, a terrible recession, and a bruising year of politics, it would be just like America that a crazy election result torpedoes the health care reform bill. It would be the first Republican Senator win in 43 years in Massachusetts, a state that’s bluer than blue, and the actual seat being elected on Tuesday hasn’t been won by a Republican since 1947!

But it’s becoming more and more possible, and the latest polls are all over the map.

Let’s play out what happens if we go back to a 59–41 Senate. The current Senate rules basically allow the minority to shut down proceedings. Harry Reid has in fact performed miracles to keep Lieberman, Nelson and some of the rest on board. Obama, Reid & Pelosi are now working the deal out with the unions and all the rest to make sure that what’s a pretty slim majority in the House will essentially accept the Senate bill—with some sop to the unions on the “Excise tax”. There are some other technicalities about the Exchange et al, but in the end we have a fair idea of what’s going to be the result.

Why health insurance reform really matters

Jan 17, 2010• 26

By CF Mother

Just occasionally we get a really heartfelt comment on THCB that is passionate and rational, and reminds us why for all the bile spewed about the topic the essential part of the health care bill—making insurance available to everyone—is really important. This comment from CF Mother was left on my post “Thinking the unthinkable” on Friday. And of course, this could happen to anyone—including you. And frankly the Democrats need to do a better job explaining this—Matthew Holt

Questions for those who do not support health care reform:

Twenty years ago our cheery toddler was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Afraid, we dug into the medical research to understand the disease that threatened his future. We healed through optimism, roused by the news eight days after his diagnosis that the gene that causes CF had been found, opening the door toward a cure. We knew that our heroes, the researchers and his doctors, would continue to find ways to protect his future. We were no longer afraid of CF.

The fear that woke me in the night was of losing our health insurance because our son was on every insurer’s no-fly list. While my husband’s profession was periodically roiled by layoffs, he decided against the security of opening his own firm because the cost of carrying coverage for our eldest son was too high, the thread on which his health care dangled too slight.

PharmaSecure using SMS to detect counterfeit drugs

Jan 15, 2010• 4

By Matthew Holt

In developing countries, (and here too) counterfeit drugs are a mega-big problem. Essentially fraudulently labeled drugs in the supply chain are often not what they say they are, with potentially devastating consequences. But there’s no really easy way for companies to monitor their supply chain. We ran into PharmaSecure as they were getting off the ground last year, and yesterday I met CEO Sarah Hine who showed me how their technology allows the consumer to directly connect with the manufacturer using SMS.

A very innovative use of technology and a very interesting brief interview (complete with demo!). They’ve also just raised a $2m series A round.

And in breaking news…

Jan 9, 2010• 6

By Matthew Holt

Academics get government grants! Who knew?

The Deer Hunter and healthcare reform

Jan 5, 2010• 9

By Matthew Holt

Greg Pawleski sent me this little tale. This is the pull-off SR 61 and Adamsdale Rd in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania. The deer was hit there. The couch was dumped there previously. Day two, the deer was on the couch. Day three, the end table and lamp showed up. Day four, the TV and TV stand showed up. The Trooper had to call PENN DOT and wait because of all the people stopping to take pictures. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE SIGN.

Deer

The cardboard caption in front of the deer on the couch reads: “Sorry Hunters. Obama ruined healthcare. We can’t afford to have injured hunters on our conscience. Stayed home. Sorry. The deer.”

My personal start of year letter…

Jan 4, 2010• 1

By Matthew Holt

….is up over on my barely used personal blog. It’s a record of an email I send out about charities and causes I support (with a little bit of news about me and mine). If you’re interested it’s here

The five things to pay attention to in 2010

Jan 4, 2010• 29

By Matthew Holt

There’s no doubt that despite my thoughts that Obama wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) have pushed health reform in 2009, it was a very big year for health care. Death panels, public options et al—one hundred thousand visits to THCB in August don’t lie.

So what should you look for next?

The finish is the start: It looks like some version of the Senate bill will be a done deal by sometime late January. That means that there’s about two years of health care industry players figuring out what it all means. The biggest two questions are; what will the types of plan sold in the exchanges look like? (high deductible with some preventive care thrown in is most likely), and what will the cuts and changes in Medicare payment actually look like in practice? (More of the same or real re-alignment around some kind of bundling). All these changes need reactions from the incumbents to reorganize around the new revenue streams.

As I’ve always suspected, Health Care = Communism + Frappuccinos

Dec 26, 2009

By Matthew Holt

Nothing new today from me, but if you’re stopping by THCB looking for some post-Xmas inspiration, I thought you might like this essay I’m rather proud from back in THCB’s past (back in the dark days of 2005). It concerns the eternal battle between government/private funding in the provision of health care, and it’s one of the more fun ones I’ve written.

It’s called As I’ve always suspected, Health Care = Communism + Frappuccinos

Senate passes bill, more to come

Dec 24, 2009• 14

By Matthew Holt

It’s Christmas Eve and the Senate just passed a major health reform bill. Personally I think the reforms in it are relatively minor, but the passage of the bill itself is a screaming big deal. When I say minor, what I mean is that we’re leaving in place the inefficient employment-based health benefits system, and we’re expanding insurance mostly by putting more people into the separate but equal Medicaid program.

But this bill is a statement, and an important one.

For the first time we’re acknowledging that everyone ought to have health insurance and that those unable to afford it should be subsidized by the government. We’re also saying that insurance companies should take all comers at a consistent price without respect to health condition (and hopefully we’re implying that their job is to manage care not risk-select). Finally we’re saying that the majority of the cost can be paid for by redirecting inefficient spending within the health care system, and by taxing benefits that are only tax-free because of historical accident.