I just posted a wonky piece on the other website I write for, the Seattle-based Publicola, exposing a potentially problematic side of the public option, at least for hospitals in states like Washington (or Minnesota and Wisconsin) that have efficient healthcare delivery systems.  

I encourage you to read it, but the basic premise is that the fee-for-service style of Medicare reimbursement benefits those hospitals that provide quantity of service over quality. Thus, states with less efficient care, like New York and Florida get two times the reimbursement rates of states like Washington that get good outcomes for their patients, quickly. And those efficient providers fear that if the public option is based upon Medicare reimbursement rates they’re losses will be compounded and they may eventually go broke.

The New York Times reports today that according to the Census Bureau, US income and poverty rates improved in 2006--though the only bits of good news I found in the piece were that poverty among the elderly is relatively low and that poverty rates for Hispanic Americans fell to 20.6 percent (which doesn't seem acceptable anyway). Poverty rates for white, black and Asian Americans were statistically unchanged.

Other highlights:

• median household income rose slightly, but only for white people. Rising incomes were a "reflection of more family members taking jobs to make ends meet," not of people getting paid better wages

• more adults lack health insurance than in 2005

• 700,000 more children lack health insurance than in 2005

Great. Really seems like an improvement. 

Free Food-A-Thon Finals: Part Three

Even after a few bowls of gazpacho and a plate of shrimp, I still had room for more. The white chocolate ganache almost put me over the edge, but I talked myself out of slowing down.
“This is the Free Food-A-Thon finals,” the voice inside my head kept saying. “This is what separates the interns from the eaters. The one-luncheon losers from the hotel-hopping heroes.”

But I didn’t want to settle for hero. As any kid who grew up watching The Sandlot will tell you, “Heroes get remembered. But legends never die.”

Wait for it…wait 43 seconds for it to be precise…

An article in yesterday’s New York Times chronicles the battle over expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Doctors, consumer groups, many state officials, and a broad bipartisan coalition in Congress want to see more children covered under SCHIP. Meanwhile the Bush administration stands staunchly opposed to the program’s expansion, deriding it as a step towards government-run healthcare, which some believe will be costly and add unnecessary bureaucracy.