Author Archive
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Campaign Desk
The Headlines Tell Us Everything
December 4, 2009 02:05 PMThe release of the Congressional Budget Office’s report this week predicting how health reform might affect insurance premiums dished up something for everyone. Premiums could go up; they could go down; they could stay the same—and by the way, CBO’s... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Yes, Virginia, There Really Are Cost Controls
December 3, 2009 08:00 AMAt this point in the health reform debate, press coverage is beginning to sound a lot like 1993-94, when the media—at least the big guys—got behind the managed competition juggernaut. The mantra then was that managed competition and its corollary,... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Man in the Middle
November 30, 2009 10:58 AMMeet Jeremy Devor, a technician with an associate degree in engineering, who lives in Salem, Illinois, a town of about 8,000 people 254 miles south of Chicago. It’s a land of corn fields, few jobs, and an unemployment rate of... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Missing Persons Redux
November 25, 2009 08:00 AMLast Monday night, the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer devoted air time to an exchange between two former secretaries of Health and Human Services—Donna Shalala, who served in the Clinton cabinet, and Michael Leavitt, who served under George W.... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Devil in the Details, Part III
November 24, 2009 08:07 AMEvery lobbyist swarming Capitol Hill these days knows that, when it comes to legislation, the devil is always lurking in the details, not lounging in the concepts. Yet concepts, not details, are drifting down to the public--who will be in... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Ron Wyden Speaks Out
November 23, 2009 09:22 AMOn Friday, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden got the Senate health care duo, Max Baucus and Harry Reid, to agree that some workers who cannot afford their share of the premiums for employer coverage could shop in the government’s... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Laurel to the Missoulian
November 18, 2009 04:10 PMLast Sunday, the Missoulian in Missoula, Montana did what Campaign Desk has been urging papers to do--it showed how its readers how might fare under health reform. Missoulian state bureau reporter Mike Dennison interviewed five families to see... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Missing Persons
November 16, 2009 10:48 AMCome on now. We’ve heard enough about the political horserace of health reform—way too much of Nancy, Max, and Olympia. No doubt we’ll be overfed on the theatrics of the coming Joe and Harry Show; but that’s not where the... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Do Doctors Always Tell the Truth?
November 13, 2009 02:38 PMKudos to the Journal Sentinel and reporter John Fauber for digging up the difference between fact and fiction when it comes to medical researchers at the University of Wisconsin medical school. At least nine doctors there told the... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Infant Mortality, Abortion, and WellPoint’s Tonik Policy
November 11, 2009 09:40 AMFirst, there was last week’s news that the U.S. ranks thirtieth in the world when it comes to infant mortality. American infant mortality rates are more than twice as high as infant mortality rates in such countries as... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Doctors and the Disabled
November 9, 2009 09:18 AMThe American Medical Association was positively gleeful after the House bill passed, quickly issuing a statement on its Web site that gave the group’s spin on the legislation. “The AMA hails the passage of the House health reform... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Disabled and the Doctors
November 9, 2009 09:17 AMAs members of Congress ticked off for the home crowds the general achievements of their narrowly passed bill Saturday, and advocates for the elderly praised the goodies for Medicare beneficiaries, nobody mentioned that one important fix which would... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Price of Medical Services
November 5, 2009 12:58 PMBy now, most of the health care cognoscenti realize that we have not had a robust discussion of medical costs. You could say that the public has been misled by the pols and the advocacy groups, which have been preaching... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part IX
November 4, 2009 11:13 AMThree years ago, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts enacted a far-reaching health reform law that politicians and the media hailed as a model for other states and the federal government. That law has become the blueprint for health system change on... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Devil in the Details, Part II
November 2, 2009 09:51 AMEvery lobbyist swarming Capitol Hill these days knows that, when it comes to legislation, the devil is always lurking in the details, not lounging in the concepts. Yet it is concepts, not details, which are drifting down to the public--who... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Times Misses the Mark
October 30, 2009 11:28 AMWhat could The New York Times have been thinking when it fronted a piece the other day serving up some personal tidbits about two major health care lobbyists—Billy Tauzin for the pharmaceutical manufacturers and Karen Ignagni for the... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Dr. Coca-Cola on Call
October 27, 2009 02:08 PMOne thing you have to say about the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is that it is consistently on the side of the consumer, pointing out how corporate interests too often collide with public health. So it... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Truth Emerges about the Public Option
October 26, 2009 11:34 AMSunday on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, George and his guests suddenly realized that the public option, whatever shape it takes, will be very limited. While it’s good to see the MSM finally get real about the public option, Campaign... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Latest News from Massachusetts
October 26, 2009 10:32 AMIt is surprising, as The Washington Post noted Friday, that President Obama paid a political visit to help Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick but not to talk about health reform. He came to MIT for a chat about energy—kind of an... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Who Will Be at the Table, Part XVII
October 22, 2009 10:58 AMDuring the campaign, Barack Obama promised his cheering crowds that, when he rolled up his sleeves to work on health care, he would have “insurance company representatives and drug company representatives at the table. They just won’t be able to... Continue reading
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Desks
The Audit Business
- Anti-paywall dead-enders Why worry about evidence when you can argue against straw men?
- Audit Notes: pyramid people, Disney and ABC, no USA Today paywall Roddy Boyd digs into a diet-shake pyramid scheme
The Observatory Science
- Dull news from Doha UN climate summit a ho-hum affair for the press
- Highway to the danger zone Following Sandy, HuffPo and NYT dig into the folly of coastal development
Campaign Desk Politics & Policy
- NBC News sets good example for Medicare reporting People perspective leads to clear explanation of impact of proposed changes
- In Pennsylvania, a niche site with wide reach PoliticsPA drives political conversation in Keystone State
Behind the News The Media
Blog
The Kicker last updated: Fri 3:00 PM
- Must-reads of the week
- The media news cycle is bananas
- Pass the #popcorn
- Must-reads of the week
- Tom Rosenstiel leaving Pew
The Future of Media
News Startups Guide last updated: Thu 10:24 AM
- TRVL A free iPad travel magazine
- TheDigitel A small chain of local news sites/ aggregators in South Carolina