Those hoping to fix the U.S.âs current healthcare system have plenty to chew on this week.
Sara Robinson at Campaign for Americaâs Future debunks several myths about U.S. vs. Canadian healthcare (Part I here). Keep this handy for the next time someone whines that single-payer healthcare will mean rationed care.
Jacob Goldstein at Health Blog reports on CVS Caremarkâs payment to end a probe into whether the company was keeping for itself the rebates that accrued from switching patients to generic drugs, and on Blue Cross of Californiaâs decision to stop asking doctors to report patients whoâd failed to disclose pre-existing conditions.
Ed Silverman at Pharmalot looks at the growing number of prescriptions U.S. adults are filling.
Matt Madia at Reg Watch summarizes the multiple rules that work together to undermine Medicaid.
Health Affairs has posts by Mina Matin, Robert Berenson, and Paul B. Ginsburg about the Sustainable Growth Rate (the formula thatâs supposed to keep Medicare physician services payments in line with national economic growth â but that Congress keeps overriding to avoid making large cuts to physician payments).
Elsewhere:
Angry Toxicologist is fed up with decisions getting made because people want the meeting to be over â and reminds us what the price is when an agency like CPSC takes such a short-sighted approach.
Mike Hall at AFL-CIO Weblog has some disturbing news about runway incursion and air traffic controller staffing issues.
Lisa Stiffler at Dateline Earth talks to Michael Pollan about how eating can help save the environment.
Benjamin Cohen at The Worldâs Fair documents the destructive impact of mountaintop removal mining.
Andrew Leonard at How the World Works celebrates Californiaâs air pollution regulations.
Tara C. Smith at Aetiology reviews The American Plague, a book about yellow fever.
Tom Philpott at Gristmill explains how the biofuels craze is good for the GMO biz.