As the national health care reform debate has unfolded this past year, we have occasionally tried to point our readers towards good sources for making sense of these complicated issues. This post from  the summer suggested some especially useful magazine articles, blogs, and books on health care reform, while this famous  flow chart (now updated) from Donkeylicious.com tried to summarize the major health care proposals in three easy steps.  We’ve also looked specifically at the debate over comparative effectiveness research and the potential expansion of Medicaid coverage for uninsured low-income adults.

Earlier this month, the radio documentary program This American Life aired two full one-hour programs devoted entirely to health care reform. As usual, the programs were insightful, entertaining, and thought-provoking. The first program focused primarily on trying to understand the exorbitant cost of the American health care system, with segments that looked at the role that doctors, consumers, and insurance companies play in keeping costs rising, even while more, and more expensive, care does not ensure better health outcomes.  The second episode focused on health insurance, and included segments tracing the history of the American employer-based health insurance system and looking at why more competition between insurers may not lower health insurance costs. Read the rest of this entry »

“The sky is falling!” clearly would make a more compelling headline, but in the case of state agencies trying to deal with the  continuing pressures of rising costs, increasing responsibilities, and flat funding, the reality is less dramatic but no less serious.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health testified of the ever-tightening budget grip to a House subcommittee last week:

Interim Health Commissioner Rocky McElvany told the House health appropriations subcommittee that rising costs for employee insurance and benefits have forced the agency not to replace nearly 200 employees since September 2007.lost about 100 county health workers during the 2008 fiscal year, he said.

Many of the employees were health-care professionals who provided services across the state, including in county health departments, who either retired or left for higher-paying jobs, McElvany said. “Realistically, these cuts are starting to hamper our ability to provide services,” he said.

Read the rest of this entry »