April 16, 2012 The Pump Handle 4Comment

by Kim Krisberg Broccoli. A nutritious green veggie of the cabbage family? Or a symbol of the federal government’s over-reaching power grab? Like most things in life, it all depends on your perspective. I’ve been thinking about that word — broccoli — since last month’s Supreme Court hearings on the constitutionality of provisions within the […]

March 30, 2012 Liz Borkowski, MPH 1Comment

Unless they’ve deviated from their normal procedure, the Supreme Court justices have now decided on how they’ll rule on the Affordable Care Act – but, as the Washington Post’s Robert Barnes points out, we’ll have to wait until late June to hear their verdict. In the meantime, this is a good opportunity to recap the […]

March 20, 2012 Liz Borkowski, MPH 5Comment

Friday will be the two-year anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act, and there’s plenty of discussion about the law’s impacts and the upcoming Supreme Court oral arguments. While many of the law’s provisions won’t take effect until 2014, it’s already having an impact on some aspects of health insurance. I described several […]

February 21, 2012 The Pump Handle 2Comment

By Kim Krisberg Friday wasn’t a great day for public health. That day, Congress voted to raid the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund to the tune of $5 billion. The move comes as part of a deal to delay scheduled cuts to Medicare physician payment rates and was part of a legislative […]

December 14, 2011 Liz Borkowski, MPH 2Comment

Following up on last year’s nine-minute animated video explaining the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Kaiser Family Foundation has produced a new interactive feature that gives examples of how different individuals’ situations will change (or not) in 2014 when the law is fully implemented. Click on character – 23-year-old uninsured graphic designer Phil […]

December 21, 2009 Liz Borkowski, MPH

In a historic achievement, 60 Senators have agreed to a healthcare bill that will dramatically expand health insurance coverage and curb some of the insurance industry’s worst practices. Getting agreement between the Senate and the House, which has passed its own healthcare bill, will still be an arduous process, but the chambers agree on most essential elements, and this is the farthest Congress has come in decades towards fixing our healthcare system’s serious problems.