Reading Room
Welcome. Below you will find our growing collection of readings relevant to the NPA's mission.
AMA Reporting Needs a Second Opinion
Thursday's New York Times article about the American Medical Association's opposition to the inclusion of a strong public option in health care reform had several serious flaws....
-- Media Matters, June 12, 2009
Doctors’ Group Opposes Public Insurance Plan
As the health care debate heats up, the American Medical Association is letting Congress know that it will oppose creation of a government-sponsored insurance plan, which Pres. Obama and many other Democrats see as an essential element of legislation....
-- NYT, June 10, 2009
The Cost Conundrum- What a Texas town can teach us about health care
McAllen, TX, is one of the most expensive health-care markets in the country. In 2006, Medicare spent fifteen thousand dollars per enrollee here, almost twice the national average. Why?
-- The New Yorker, June 1, 2009
Warring Sides on Health Care Carry Their Fight to TV and Radio Ads
The battle over the future of health care has taken to the airwaves, with interest groups spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on television and radio advertisements supporting or attacking legislation they expect to emerge from Congress.
-- NYT, May 28, 2009
Public health plan should be an option
Op-Ed by NPA President David Evans MD
-- Oregonian, May 25, 2009
Blue Double Cross
Less than two weeks have passed since much of the medical-industrial complex made a big show of working with President Obama on health care reform — and the double-crossing is already well under way....
-- NYT Op-Ed, May 21, 2009
Physician Practice Interactions with Health Plans Cost $31 Billion A Year...
As policy-makers consider ways to cut health costs, a new national survey of physician practices finds that physicians on average are spending the equivalent of three work weeks annually on administrative tasks required by health plans....
-- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, May 14, 2009
Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice
[R]elationships between medicine and industry may create conflicts of interest, potentially resulting in undue influence on professional judgments.
-- Insitute of Medicine, Apr. 28, 2009
A System from Hell
My husband had excellent health coverage; our daughter had none. He faces chronic illness in in the twilight of life; she suffered a terrible injury just as her adult life was beginning. [T]hey span the complete spectrum of healthcare economics...
-- The Nation, April 27 2009
Fighting for Our Health
When Congress takes up reform legislation, advocates will not only be fighting to pass a bill that restructures the healthcare industry; they will also have to persuade legislators to raise more than $1 trillion with a single vote....
-- The Nation, April 8, 2009
A Public Plan for Health Insurance?
A new public plan — to offer consumers greater choice, keep the private plans honest and, one can hope, restrain the relentless growth in health care premiums and underlying medical costs — seems worth trying.
-- NYT, April 6, 2009
Commentary: Reform is nothing to fear
The insurance industry has created the fear that a government role in health care would undermine choice. But how does an optional public plan do anything but expand choice? If insurance companies are such fans of the market, then let the market decide.
-- Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar. 26, 2009
HHS Names David Blumenthal As National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
As the National Coordinator, Dr. Blumenthal will lead the implementation of a nationwide interoperable, privacy-protected health information technology infrastructure as called for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
-- Dpt. of HHS, March 20, 2009
Team Effort in the House to Overhaul Health Care
Three powerful House committee chairmen have agreed to work together on legislation to overhaul the health care system, with the view that most employers should help finance coverage and that the government should offer a public health insurance plan.
-- NYT, Mar 17, 2009
Margaret Hamburg said to be Obama's pick to head the FDA
The physician is a former New York City health commissioner and a onetime Clinton official. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health chief, is expected to be named her deputy.
-- LA Times, Mar 12, 209
Obama steadfast on healthcare
President Obama yesterday presented his goal of fixing the healthcare system as a political imperative, as well as a moral and economic one....
-- Boston Globe, Mar 6, 2009
Harvard Medical School in Ethics Quandary
[There is] a full-blown movement by more than 200 Harvard Medical School students and sympathetic faculty, intent on exposing & curtailing the industry influence in their classrooms and laboratories, as well as in Harvard’s 17 affiliated teaching hospitals
-- NYT, Mar 3, 2009
Health Care Reform in Eight Easy Steps
This blog has spent a lot of time over the years digging through the details of this or that health care plan. But it's worth taking a moment to appreciate that the language in today's budget is something entirely different: Not an idea, but a directive...
-- American Prospect, Feb 26, 2009
President Obama Says 'Now Is the Time' To Invest in Health Care
President Obama on Tuesday during a speech to a joint session of Congress called for investments in health care and other areas to "grow our economy....
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, Feb 25, 2009
Lawmakers Seek to Return Right to Sue Device Makers
At issue is a February 2008 court ruling that barred patients or their survivors from suing makers of complex medical devices — like the Medtronic product — if the Food and Drug Administration has approved their sale.
-- NYT, Feb 19, 2009