Pulling It Together: Critical Path To Health Reform: Conclusion March 27, 2008 Perspective Finally, it bears mentioning for organizations like Kaiser that do research and analysis and are committed to public education on complex health policy issues, that the kinds of activities that will be most useful will vary depending on what stage we are at on the “critical path.” At this early…
Pulling it Together: Reflections on This Year’s Four Percent Premium Increase September 5, 2012 Perspective Our 2012 Employer Health Benefits Survey found a 4% increase in premiums this year, continuing the recent trend of moderation in health costs and spending reported in several studies. Double digit increases in premiums were once a common occurrence, but we have not seen any since a 10% increase in…
Pulling It Together: Bono, Jon Stewart and the HIV/AIDS Message December 14, 2011 Perspective One of the most interesting conversations on a health topic happened recently on The Daily Show between Bono and Jon Stewart. Bono told Stewart that we were “at the beginning of the end of the AIDS epidemic,” promising an announcement the next day that would explain how a combination of…
Pulling it Together: The Experts vs. The Public on Health Reform May 14, 2009 Perspective In repeated Kaiser polls, we see a divide between what experts believe and what the public believes about some of the key issues in health reform. They don’t disagree on everything; far from it. But there is a wide gulf on basic beliefs about what is behind the problems in…
Pulling It Together: Critical Path To Health Reform: Stage Two March 27, 2008 Perspective Will the new president make health a top early priority and exercise real leadership on the issue? One of the big lessons of the health reform debate of the early nineties is that the Congress needs to be fully engaged in the process early on. Nevertheless, for health reform legislation…
Pulling It Together: Critical Path To Health Reform: Stage One March 27, 2008 Perspective Will there be a big debate about health reform in the general election? If there is it will elevate the issue further, engage the public, and create momentum and a mandate for action by a new President and Congress. If, however, the debate about health is tepid or health is…
Pulling it Together: Small $ for HIV Prevention July 28, 2009 Perspective It’s no secret that the response to the HIV epidemic domestically has not kept pace with the response to the global epidemic. And in an earlier column called America Has Gone Quiet on HIV/AIDS I wrote about the growing complacency towards the domestic epidemic revealed in our recent survey of…
Pulling It Together: Jobs, A Reason to Fast Track Coverage March 13, 2009 Perspective The two big topics in Washington right now are the economy and health care. I’ve written before about how the two are linked, and in particular about how among the everyday economic problems people are having, paying for health care is a big one. But the latest numbers out from…
Pulling It Together: A Recovery Raises Expectations Too August 5, 2008 Perspective New Orleans is a city still struggling with the aftermath of Katrina and the levee breaks. The people of New Orleans feel that the nation and the federal government have largely forgotten them. Those are the results of our 2008 survey of the people of New Orleans, the second in a…
Pulling It Together: New Orleans Five Years After the Levees Broke August 24, 2010 Perspective President Obama’s visit to New Orleans on August 29, five years after Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures nearly destroyed the city, presented an opportunity for him to deliver a message on behalf of us all: The country still cares. It was a timely message. Seven-in-ten residents of New Orleans…
