Seeing Red: The Growing Burden of Medical Bills and Debt

The Commonwealth Fund has published their analysis of the impact of medical bills and accumulated medical debt. Here’s their overview of the publication: Analysis of the 2007 Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey finds the proportion of working-age...

Comparing Hospital Costs in Oregon

The state of Oregon has made available to the public a comparison of the costs of some common health care procedures. Here’s the introductory blurb from the Oregon Health Policy and Research web site: Governor Kulongoski has made health care accessibility and...

Small Business is Latest Focus in Health Fight

The New York Times recently reported on the 20 million (out of 47 million) unisured Americans who work for small businesses. Here as excerpt: As the number of people without health insurance continues to rise, many states and Congress have begun to focus on one of the...

BlueCross Rates Soar 26 Percent

Today’s Oregonian has a story by Bill Graves about the continued dramatic rise in health insurance premiums. It begins: A 26 percent rate increase by Oregon’s largest health insurer underscores the need to overhaul the state’s health system and bring...

Most Doctors Are Not Using Electronic Health Records

An article in today’s NY Times points out that when it comes to electronic health records we have far to go despite the benefits. Here’s an excerpt: A government-sponsored survey of the use of computerized patient records by doctors points to two seemingly...