Author Archive
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Campaign Desk
Nine Lives of a Disputed Fact
March 16, 2012 03:45 PMThe other day, Politico published an opinion piece arguing that Americans should be “extremely anxious about the outcome” of the Supreme Court’s decision on the health reform law. The op-ed, by Scott Atlas, the chief of neuroradiology at... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Is Buying Health Insurance Like Shopping on Amazon?
March 13, 2012 01:12 PMOn Monday, the AP reported that, as part of its health reform efforts, the federal government would require states to establish online shopping services that would ostensibly make it easier for consumers to research and purchase health insurance. The AP... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Should Health Journos Use Hospital Safety Data?
March 12, 2012 11:37 AMIn a highly touted effort to improve the quality of hospital care, the federal government has started disclosing data that ostensibly reveals which hospitals are best (and worst) at keeping their patients safe. But a few weeks ago, Kaiser Health... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Rick Santorum’s Math Problem
March 9, 2012 02:57 PMNow really, Rick—every American will get government help after Obamacare takes effect? Surely you jest! Thankfully my press brethren had the good sense not to run with your remark the other night: What we will go to in... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
NPR Rethinks Its Reporting
March 5, 2012 02:10 PMLast week, NPR released a new ethics document that the blogosphere announced would end the “he said/she said” reporting the country’s premier radio network has been known to use in its reports. Goodness, even Jay Rosen was ecstatic.... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
More Dot-Connection Needed on ER Story
February 29, 2012 01:27 PMKaiser Health News has become very good at reporting on the marketing secrets of the nation’s hospitals. I was intrigued by a story a couple weeks back by Phil Galewitz, which revealed that, increasingly, hospitals are making emergency-room... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
A Medicare Memo to Campaign Reporters
February 27, 2012 04:29 PMDear Colleagues: I have just returned from a reporting trip to Southeast Arkansas, where the folks I visited have very little. They certainly don’t have good health. Some are crippled by bad knees messed up from on-their-feet jobs. Most have... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
What We’re Learning About Hospitals, Part One
February 22, 2012 02:22 PMBeware the Affordable Care Act! That was the message of a fine National Journal piece that thoroughly investigated the current economics of the nation’s hospitals. Stories about economics—especially those that go deep—are always tough to do, and reporter Margot Sanger-Katz... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Words of Warning on the Payroll Tax
February 20, 2012 01:41 PMLast week, Congress voted to extend the payroll tax holiday through the end of 2012. Social Security supporters have argued that a tax holiday may not be such a hot idea, and could jeopardize the program’s future by changing its... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Case of the Missing Premium
February 16, 2012 01:44 PMThe Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that health insurers and employers must provide more information to consumers shopping for health insurance. The ensuing coverage, shall we say, was a classic case of journalistic bungling. Reporters took what... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Don Berwick, Press Critic
February 14, 2012 11:47 AMDon Berwick, something of a folk hero to journos covering health care, had a heart-to-heart with the Association of Health Care Journalists the other day, and the story deserves a close read. The idea apparently was to vent... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Kudos to The New York Times
February 13, 2012 02:43 PMReporters Binyamin Appelbaum and Robert Gebeloff deserve praise for their piece in Sunday’s Times showing how some of the good folks of Chisago County, Minnesota, are taking handouts from the government while simultaneously railing against wasteful governmental spending.... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Some Mistakes at MoneyWatch
February 8, 2012 02:37 PMA recent CBS MoneyWatch piece titled “Social Insecurity” was one of those breezy, glib stories that seemed to telegraph important stuff, especially to the younger set, but actually typified the kind of shallow, incomplete coverage of Social Security... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
USA Today Touts the Government’s Good News on Medicare
February 6, 2012 11:57 AMA few days ago USA Today trumpeted some health policy news: enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans is up and premiums are down. The paper reported that premiums for the controversial Medicare Advantage plans, which provide private benefits for... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
What Mitt Really Believes About Entitlements
February 2, 2012 12:52 PMIt’s hard to say if Mitt Romney’s declaration the other night in Florida that Republicans “will never go after Medicare or Social Security, we will protect those programs” helped him win big in the state’s primary. But it... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
A Laurel to The Record
January 31, 2012 11:15 AMLindy Washburn’s piece in the Bergen Record about medical debt and how it can cripple even those people with health insurance offers a troubling preview of the future. The story should be required reading for health reporters and... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Medicare Versus Obamacare
January 30, 2012 12:22 PMIn the last few days, three mainstream news outlets elevated “Medicare: The Political Story” into the headlines. It was good to see that The New York Times, PBS’s Need To Know, and Reuters, all of which reach large audiences, have... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Jon Stewart Takes on Sebelius
January 25, 2012 12:38 PMJon Stewart welcomed Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius to The Daily Show Monday night, and it was great to see that Madame Secretary had lightened up a bit from her oh-so somber appearances on the Sunday... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Romney’s History on Medicare
January 23, 2012 12:19 PMCNN’s exit poll Saturday told us that abortion, the budget deficit, the economy, and illegal immigration were the top voter concerns of voters in the South Carolina primary. But there’s plenty of room for health care, including possible... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
In South Carolina, Another Hospital/Journo Alliance
January 20, 2012 11:50 AMGary Schwitzer at Health News Review raised a question about journalistic ethics the other day when he took a whack at former newspaperman Ken Burger for returning to his old employer, Charleston, South Carolina’s The Post and Courier,... 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