This is a list of every article Trudy Lieberman has written for Campaign Desk, presented in reverse chronological order.

November 2009



11/18/09: Laurel to the Missoulian - For telling the human story of health reform

11/16/09: Missing Persons - How will reform affect ordinary folks?

11/13/09: Do Doctors Always Tell the Truth? - No, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

11/11/09: Infant Mortality, Abortion, and WellPoint’s Tonik Policy - It’s dot-connection time for the media

11/10/09: The Doctors and the Disabled - Have the doctors won on fee cuts?

11/10/09: The Disabled and the Doctors - People with disabilities will still have to wait for Medicare

11/05/09: The Price of Medical Services - Is the conversation finally starting?

11/04/09: Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part IX - What does the public say?

11/02/09: The Devil in the Details, Part I - Who can afford health insurance after reform?

October 2009



10/30/09: The Times Misses the Mark - A health care lobbyist puff piece that goes nowhere

10/27/09: Dr. Coca-Cola on Call - The king of Coke teams up with the family docs

10/26/09: Truth Emerges about the Public Option - Who really will be allowed to join?

10/26/09: The Latest News from Massachusetts - Obama comes to talk about energy, not health care

10/22/09: Who Will Be at the Table? Part Seventeen - The docs are back for their piece of the pie

10/20/09: Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part VII - Unintended consequences for patients

10/15/09: CJR’s Town Hall Meetings, Part VI - The view from Union Station, Washington D.C.

10/13/09: The Insurers’ Grand Strategy - More well-timed studies to influence the pols and the polls

10/12/09: Who Will Be at the Table? Part Sixteen - Fighting a soda tax

10/09/09: WellPoint versus the State of Maine - Forget Olympia Snowe, there’s other news in the north country

10/08/09: The Devil in the Details, Part I - The tug-of-war over penalties for not buying coverage

10/07/09: Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part VII - Unintended consequences for small business

10/02/09: Baucus Watch, Part XVI - What we should have known all along

September 2009



09/30/09: Journalism in the Heartland - A shout out to the Kansas City Star and the Salina (Kan.) Journal

09/29/09: CJR’s Town Hall Meetings: Scranton, Pennsylvania - The view from an Italian festival

09/27/09: Baucus Watch, Part XV - What’s the senator hiding in his bill?

09/25/09: A Dart to Health Affairs - Policy journal jumps in bed with Aetna

09/23/09: Baucus Watch, Part XIV - The senator confronts the affordability question

09/22/09: When a Tax Is a Tax - The New York Times explains

09/21/09: The President versus Stephanopoulos - When is a tax not a tax?

09/20/09: Medical Homes? You’ve Got To Be Kidding - The new health care dialect

09/18/09: Examining the Individual Mandate - The Wall Street Journal takes a hard look in Massachusetts

09/16/09: Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part VI - The canary in the coal mine

09/14/09: Who Will Be at the Table? Part Fifteen - The gun owners come out of the woodwork

09/11/09: CJR’s Town Hall Meetings: Columbia, Missouri - The view from Main Street

09/10/09: What Did the President Really Say? - More goals and details and questions to ponder

09/09/09: Baucus Watch, Part XIII - At last, the senator brings forth a plan

09/09/09: Where Have All the Health Reform Goals Gone? - What will Obama articulate tonight?

09/08/09: CJR’s Town Hall Meetings: Honesdale, Pennsylvania - The view from Wal-Mart

09/08/09: Shout-outs to the Kansas City Star and Kaiser News Service - For starting to fill in the blanks on health reform

09/04/09: CJR’s Town Hall Meetings: Columbia, Missouri - The view from the heartland—the patients

09/02/09: The Op-Ed No One Wanted - Canada’s corpse-strewn landscape?

August 2009



08/31/09: CJR’s Town Hall Meetings, Part I - The view from Starbucks at Fifteenth and Third

08/28/09: Laurel to T.R. Reid - For extraordinary clarity in explaining foreign health systems

08/26/09: Ted Kennedy’s Health Care Legacy - Reporting on the lion

08/25/09: Was a Public Plan Ever Really in the Cards? - Did Sebelius speak the truth?

08/24/09: Who Will Be at the Table? Part Fourteen - Those clever drug companies

08/18/09: Excluded Voices - An interview with Andrew Dillon, who heads Britain’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)

08/17/09: Reality Check for the White House - Axelrod’s e-mail raises more questions

08/13/09: Straight Talk, Part I - The end-of-life myth and the real long-term care stories to be told

08/11/09: Who Will Be at the Table? Part Thirteen - United Healthcare has a mighty big seat

08/10/09: Health Reform and Obama’s Consumer Protections - Good for consumers, or good for insurers?

08/05/09: Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part V - Finding affordable health insurance

08/04/09: Health Care Homework for the LA Times - How does the Canadian medical system actually work?

08/03/09: Detailing the Details - A few bright spots in the media’s health reform coverage

July 2009



07/31/09: Pelosi, Prevention, and PBS - Is Madame Speaker misinformed?

07/30/09: Shades of Richard Nixon - Is Obama playing defense or offense?

07/28/09: Health Reform Too Boring for Broadcast? - Not at KQED

07/27/09: Baucus Watch, Part XII - The mother’s milk of politics and more

07/24/09: All the President’s Words, Part II - Slogans for change, or a movement for change?

07/22/09: Who Will Be at the Table? Part XII - Did the AMA snooker the press?

07/22/09: Sen. Schumer, Meet Louise Russell - What’s this about preventative care saving money?

07/21/09: Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part IV - The new math, or maybe it’s the old

07/20/09: Gregory A+; Sebelius D- - NBC’s David Gregory bores down on Madame Secretary

07/17/09: Who Will Be at the Table? Part XI - Center for Medicine in the Public Interest fights against a public plan

07/14/09: Hospital Disconnect - USA Today offers news you can use, but a little more context, please

07/13/09: Health Care in France—and in America - A journalist’s observations

June 2009



06/30/09: Memo to Sen. Barbara Boxer—and Journalists, Too - More skepticism about savings from preventive care, please

06/29/09: Health Care Flashpoints, Part III - Taxing insurance benefits and health care equity

06/24/09: Excluded Voices - An interview with Wendell Potter, former head of corporate communications for CIGNA, the country’s fourth-largest insurer

06/23/09: Who Will Be at the Table? Part X - We finally hear from the business community

06/22/09: What Journalists Can Learn from Celinda Lake - Wisdom from the Democrats’ wordsmith

06/19/09: Baucus Watch, Part XI - The first glimpse of what he has brought forth

06/16/09: Cost Savings Myopia - Making the numbers fit the script

06/16/09: Excluded Voices - An interview with Louise Russell, research professor at Rutgers and an expert on preventative care

06/15/09: Stephanopoulos A-; Sebelius D - George bests the Secretary of Health and Human Services

06/12/09: Health Care Flashpoints, Part II - The individual mandate—when journalism becomes a lobbying tool

06/10/09: Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part III - Rapidly rising medical costs jeopardize the state’s insurance miracle

06/08/09: Who Will Be at the Table? Part IX - PhRMA and the AMA join forces with insurers

06/05/09: Postscript on Single Payer - The San Francisco Chronicle offers some respectability

06/02/09: What a Young Reporter Learned from the UAW - Lessons about health care and other matters

06/01/09: Baucus Watch, Part X - Disagreements surface among the Dems

May 2009



05/29/09: What the Heck Do the Senators Mean? - More clues about a public plan

05/22/09: Single-Payer Advocates Finally Get Their Say - Montana papers lead the way

05/21/09: Excluded Voices - An interview with Jonathan Oberlander, health policy expert and professor of social medicine and health policy & management at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill

05/18/09: Where Will the Money Come From Redux - Maybe not from us, say health care special interests

05/15/09: Where Will the Money Come From? - And who will be left out of health reform?

05/13/09: Baucus Watch, Part IX - The senator ejects single-payer advocates—again

05/12/09: Will Health Care Providers Really Reduce Spending? - The press exhibits some skepticism—but more is needed

05/11/09: What Journalists Can Learn from Frank Luntz - Wisdom from the Republican wordsmith

05/08/09: Who Will Be at the Table? Part VII - WellPoint brings forth voices from the grassroots

05/07/09: Memo to Journalists: Move Beyond the Beltway Babble - Men (and women) on the street are foggy about health reform

05/04/09: Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part II - Does an individual mandate work? Depends on who’s talking

April 2009



04/30/09: Baucus Watch, Part VIII - What kind of public plan is the senator talking about?

04/28/09: A Laurel to the Eagle-Tribune - Paper gets Astroturfed and smells a rat

04/24/09: A Dart to the Buffalo News - Paper confuses Medicare Advantage news with insurance marketing tactics

04/22/09: Who Will Be at the Table? - WellPoint brings forth voices from the grassroots

04/14/09: 60 Minutes and The Nation Shine on Health Care - Two good stories that expose health care’s holes

04/13/09: Hiding the Messenger - What’s Lewin’s pedigree anyway?

04/10/09: Laurel to the Tampa Tribune - For adding a fresh dimension to the Medicare Advantage story

04/08/09: Excluded Voices - An interview with Marilyn Moon, vice president of the American Institutes for Research and a former trustee of the Medicare system

04/06/09: Obama AWOL on Health Reform? - Times tackles the President’s “light touch”

04/01/09: Sick Around America - What exactly was Frontline trying to say?

March 2009



03/30/09: Some Big Dots to Connect - Which could tell who really will pay for health reform

03/30/09: Baucus Watch, Part VII - Does he or doesn’t he support a public plan?

03/25/09: Insurers Have a New Idea - Is it really for real?

03/25/09: What Are Insurers Up To? - It depends on whose story you read

03/23/09: Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part I - Critical analysis begins to trickle in

03/18/09: Laurel to The Philadelphia Inquirer - For parsing preexisting conditions

03/12/09: Time Offers Half a Loaf - Great health care story—but then what?

03/09/09: The Takeaway from the Health Care Summit - New euphemisms for the press to avoid

03/06/09: Baucus Watch, Part VI - The senator’s thoughts on financing health reform

03/06/09: Who Will Be at the Table? - Single-payer advocates are almost left off the invite list

03/05/09: Explaining COBRA - Let’s have some straight talk from the media

03/03/09: Wanted: More Skepticism at The New York Times - When the word “nonprofit” has a deeper meaning

03/02/09: Adieu, Medicare Advantage? - Another insurer gets in trouble

February 2009



02/27/09: Where’s the Plan? - The media score well on their first-day budget stories

02/25/09: Mandating Health Coverage Makes a Comeback - The President and the man on the street

02/24/09: Divining Obama’s Health Care Budget - Early signals and the need for sharp eyes

02/20/09: Update on Medicare Advantage Plans - The administration’s unfinished business

02/19/09: A Laurel to the AP - For telling us who may not be at the table

02/17/09: The Stimulus Bill and Universal Coverage - The media are AWOL at the first skirmish

02/13/09: Dart to CNN - Who’s fact checking whom?

02/11/09: What the Stimulus Package Holds for Health Care - The devil indeed lurks in the details

02/09/09: Vetting Daschle’s Replacement - And the wisdom of the crowd

02/09/09: Excluded Voices - An interview with Timothy Jost, law professor at Washington and Lee University and author of Health Care at Risk: A Critique of the Consumer-Driven Movement

02/06/09: Baucus Watch, Part V - Smoke signals—when exactly will health reform happen?

02/03/09: Who Will Be at the Table? - The hospitals begin to take their seats

02/02/09: Mr. Daschle and His Speaking Fees - What “policy advice” did he give to United Healthcare?

January 2009



01/28/09: Laurel to The Oregonian - Health care miracles that aren’t

01/26/09: COBRA and Health Care Equity - It’s time for the press to connect some dots

01/23/09: Baucus Watch, Part IV - Lobbyists in white hats

01/20/09: Missing Children - The story behind the story on SCHIP

01/16/09: Dart to the Florida Health News Service - Whose side is it on, anyway?

01/14/09: WellPoint Gets in Trouble with Medicare - Journalists should jump on this story ASAP

01/12/09: A Headline Writer Gets Carried Away - A real plan, or a lot of sweet talk from Daschle and his Senate colleagues?

01/08/09: The TV Doc as Surgeon General - Whose interests will Sanjay Gupta promote?

01/07/09: Who Will Be at the Table? - The docs have escaped media scrutiny—so far

01/06/09: A Laurel to the AP - For exposing one of Medicare’s biggest holes

01/05/09: Report from the Tupperware Circuit, Part II - The public vents, the press takes notice

2008

December 2008



12/23/08: Report from the Tupperware Circuit - A laurel to the Marion (Ohio) Star

12/22/08: Health Care Flashpoints - Whither the public plan option?

12/19/08: Who Will Be at the Table? - Special interest groups masquerade as ordinary citizens

12/18/08: Only in America - Insurance for the insured who become uninsured

12/15/08: Did the Press Hear What We Heard? - The media bury some important news on Obama’s health plan

12/09/08: Some Good Health Coverage at Local Papers - Laurels in El Paso, Dayton, and Colorado Springs

12/08/08: Who Will Be at the Table? - What lurks under the insurers’ gesture of friendship?

12/05/08: Conseco Redux - What lessons does the Pennsylvania insurance mess have for health reform?

12/03/08: Baucus Watch, Part III - Montana reporter digs deep into the senator’s white paper

November 2008



11/24/08: Let’s Hear It for Penalizing the Uninsured - The Daily Oklahoman passes along some suggestions

11/20/08: Who Will Be at the Table? - Drug companies eye a large chair

11/18/08: Health Care Lessons From California - Arnold offers his wisdom on reform

11/17/08: Excluded Voices - An interview with Theodore Marmor, public policy and political science professor at Yale and expert on the politics of Medicare

11/13/08: Baucus Watch, Part II - What’s really inside the senator’s health-care white paper?

11/11/08: A Laurel to the Philadelphia Inquirer - And its excellent series showing the plight of the uninsured

11/10/08: Two New Story Lines for Health Care - A march to victory or a rollback of ambitions?

11/06/08: Huckabee on Health, Again - The preacher and his sermon

11/04/08: Baucus Watch - A key senator on health reform holds a listening session

11/03/08: Divining Medicare’s Future - CBS takes a crack at what’s in store for seniors

October 2008



10/30/08: Health Care Rationing Explained - The Syracuse Post-Standard dares to widen the debate

10/27/08: Now Who’s Crafting a Secret Health Plan? - Is Ted Kennedy really proposing socialized medicine?

10/27/08: Paging Dr. Gupta - How CNN’s doc misdiagnosed McCain’s health plan

10/23/08: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Tries to Redeem Itself - A better job on health care, but still a ways to go

10/20/08: Who’s Cutting What in Medicare? - A missing campaign issue suddenly surfaces

10/15/08: And Now From the Heartland…. - KOLN/KGIN tries to explain health care

10/14/08: Health Care on the Mississippi, Part IX - Real people and the candidates’ plans—some conclusions

10/13/08: Let the Crystal-Balling Begin - More red meat needed from the Associated Press

10/08/08: Dissecting the Health Care Debate - What the candidates said and didn’t say

10/07/08: Twelve Questions About Health Care for Tonight’s Debate - There’s more to talk about than taxing benefits

10/06/08: Who Will Do the Best Job on Health Care? - Neither candidate, say 40 percent of the voters. What gives?

10/06/08: Stephanopoulos Snoozes, Public Loses - How about a little help for your viewers, George?

10/03/08: Sarah Palin on Health Care - Media take note: How about a good game of connect-the-dots?

10/03/08: A Sensitive Look at the Uninsured - Health care documentary drives home the financial crisis

10/02/08: A Story That We’d Rather Not See - A cop-out at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

10/01/08: Health Care on the Mississippi, Part VIII - Glenn Hall represents everything that’s wrong with American health insurance

September 2008



09/24/08: A Laurel to the Columbus Dispatch - A newspaper gets real with real people

09/22/08: Health Care on the Mississippi, Part VII - Living with Medicare for a long time

09/17/08: Health Care on the Mississippi, Part VI - Paying out-of-pocket means postponing necessary procedures

09/16/08: McCain Under the Microscope - A major news outlet takes a look at his health plan—finally!

09/11/08: Which Little Piggy Got Left Out? - What Elizabeth Edwards said about John McCain’s health plan

09/10/08: A Laurel To NPR - Strong coverage on health care issues

09/08/08: Health Care on the Mississippi, Part V - For the Hernandez women, diabetes runs in the family

09/08/08: Bad News, Bad Story - How about some clarity from the AP?

09/03/08: Dissing Elizabeth Edwards - The media miss the real story—her health care message

09/02/08: McCain Surrogates Take To The Press - Shame on the Dallas Morning News

August 2008



08/28/08: Postscript on Harry and Louise - Health reform takeaways from the convention

08/26/08: The Obamas and the Chicago Hospital Controversy - What it really says about health care

08/25/08: Harry and Louise Are Back Again - But the media miss the important subtext

08/25/08: Health Care on the Mississippi, Part IV - You can’t win for losing when it comes to health care

08/21/08: Health Care on the Mississippi, Part III - Heart attacks, knee replacement, and sudden unemployment

08/15/08: Health Care on the Mississippi, Part II - An aging father and his diabetic son

08/15/08: Health Care on the Mississippi - Real people and the candidates’ plans, Part I

08/12/08: Unhealthy Alliances between Hospitals and TV Stations - SPJ award goes to a courageous news director

08/08/08: McCain’s Health Proposals Under the Microscope, Part V - Does he really have a way to control costs?

08/05/08: Are the Dems Wimping Out? - Platform leaves wide open space for the special interests

08/01/08: McCain’s Health Proposals Under a Microscope, Part IV - Selling insurance across state lines: cheaper premiums or skimpy benefits?

July 2008



07/29/08: Comparing Ohio and Ontario by the Numbers - The Beacon Journal points to better health stats in Canada

07/25/08: Battle For the Grassroots - Campaign for an American Solution vs. Health Care for America Now

07/24/08: McCain’s Health Proposals Under the Microscope, Part III - How will the sick obtain coverage?

07/18/08: McCain’s Health Proposals Under the Microscope, Part II - Who’s making the medical decisions, anyway?

07/14/08: McCain’s Health Proposals Under the Microscope - Ending employer-based insurance as we know it?

07/11/08: One Step Forward, One Step Back - The AP gets it right on universal coverage, but new code words loom

07/08/08: Where Have All the Doctors Gone? - Finding out would make a good story for the summer lull

07/07/08: Memo To Health Care Reporters - Explain what the terms “national” and “universal” really mean, and what Obama’s plan really does

07/03/08: At Last: A Good, Issue-Driven Health Care Story - The Catholic Courier makes things clear for readers

07/01/08: Please, ABC, Tell Us What This Story Is About - Another Obama flip-flop? Or just a plan that insurers will support?

June 2008



06/27/08: More Questions About Massachusetts Health Care - And some fine coverage from the State House News Service

06/24/08: Grassroots Support for Single Payer - Some in the media find their rallies worthy of coverage

06/19/08: A Tale of Two Visions — For Health Reform - McClatchy newspapers miss the story line

06/17/08: The High Cost of Health Care - Do journalists deserve some of the blame?

06/16/08: On Health Care, a Warning from the States - Big talk of reform dried up in the legislatures

06/12/08: Turning Point: Health Care - He said/she said is bad medicine. Time to dive into analysis

06/09/08: How Not to Cover a Speech - In health care, challenge the bromides

06/04/08: Inside the Insurers’ Bag of Tricks - Two newspapers take a hard look

May 2008



05/27/08: Watch the Democrats, Part II - The Hill’s skeptical story still stands

05/21/08: No More “Socialized Medicine” — Part II - The New York Times gets it right, too

05/19/08: Do Dems Want Health-Care Reform? - Some hedging in the halls of Congress

05/15/08: No More “Socialized Medicine”—at least from the AP - One loaded term down, many to go

05/13/08: Dick Cheney’s Health Care - Good enough for you? Moyers raises the equity question

05/12/08: About Those Holes in Your Health Policy - As campaigns discuss the uninsured, the insured have their own problems

05/08/08: The World’s Best Health Care—Really? - John McCain’s campaign canard

05/01/08: McCain’s Health-Care Muddle - What’s he doing? Don’t ask the media


April 2008



04/30/08: Missing: Single-Payer in Pennsylvania - What David Brancaccio, and the rest of the press, left out

04/25/08: Health Reform and the Single Girl - A fresh take on the candidate’s health care ideas—from Glamour

04/22/08: Memo to McCain: Dems Are Not Calling for Government Health Care - Stephanopoulos tries (unsuccessfully) to set the record straight

04/18/08: McCain’s Quiet Medicare Bombshell - Privatizing Medicare one inch at a time

04/16/08: $17 Million a Day to Influence Congress - Health interests dole out the dough to get their way

04/14/08: The Forgotten Health Issue - Why is no one talking about long-term care?

04/08/08: Globe Dissects McCain’s Health Plan - More questions raised than answered

04/07/08: Hillary’s Bad Facts - How should the press handle a health care stumble?

04/03/08: Looking Under Hillary’s Caps - On health care costs, readers need help with the fine print

04/01/08: Elizabeth Edwards on John McCain’s Health Policy - Someone has to translate


March 2008



03/26/08: A Health Care Conversation Opener - A North Carolina blogger cuts through the chaff

03/25/08: The Missing Genre - How do the candidates’ plans affect ordinary folk?

03/18/08: Good Angle on the Drug Industry - The Washington Post connects some dots

03/17/08: “Socialized Medicine” R.I.P. - Who’s afraid of the big, bad bogeyman?

03/11/08: McCain’s Health-Care Disconnect - Boasting about the U.S. system may not cut it anymore

03/06/08: Dude, Where’s My Health Care? - The AP blows it in a story about insurance for “slackers”

03/03/08: Accuracy in Truth Squading II - The Plain Dealer does it right

February 2008



02/27/08: Teaching vs. Preaching - A glimmer of pedagogy in the Ohio debate: were the media learning?

02/25/08: Accuracy in Truth Squading - KTRK-TV’s truth meter needs recalibration

02/20/08: The Definition of Universal, Again - Ted Kennedy’s take on it

02/20/08: Impressive Coverage at the LA Times - Exposing warts in the health insurance market

02/15/08: Obama’s Lobbyist Line - A “more complicated truth” on campaign contributions

02/08/08: A Cautionary Tale for David Brooks and Others - What, really, was Jim Cooper’s “Clinton Lite?”

02/04/08: Harry and Louise Redux? - The media miss the point

02/01/08: Tax Credits Explained…Finally - The Salt Lake Tribune takes a deeper view


January 2008



01/30/08: A Guide That Isn’t - Too much brevity at the Chronicle

01/23/08: Mitt’s Health Plan, Debunked - Why isn’t the press paying attention?

01/21/08: Health Care: Passing Along the Confusion - The Times unclarifies

01/18/08: Moving the Boundaries - A Pennsylvania paper dares to cover single payer

01/14/08: Health Care: Who Will Be at the Table? - Following the (insurance company) money

01/02/08: Medicare Mystery - Why the conspiracy of silence?

2007

December 2007



12/19/07: Deception in Des Moines - The Register’s Media Watch might want to check the mirror

12/12/07: Huckabee on Health - How about some details, Mike?

12/07/07: A Health Care Mirage - How candidates (and reporters) misuse the word “universal”

November 2007



11/27/07: The New Health-Care Debate - Interview with NPR health policy reporter Julie Rovner

11/27/07: Romney Talks Tough on Health Care - But what’s he really saying?

11/21/07: Rudy’s Unhealthy Stats - Some good reporting holds Giuliani’s phony cancer numbers at bay