to_abc

what matters to abc (what I'm reading and what I'm listening to)
November 2007 Reading:

Healthcare Excuses by Paul Krugman http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1&n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/Paul%20Krugman&oref=slogin

Beyond Those Health Care Numbers by N. Gregory Mankiw http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/business/04view.html

Accounting for the Cost of Healthcare in the United States (mentioned in P. Krugman essay) http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/rp/healthcare/accounting_cost_healthcare.asp

Creative Destruction: The Best Case Against Universal Healthcare by Jonathan Cohn http://tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=51faeaa7-5021-40d0-95d3-0f260b25edd4

Clemmitt, M. (2007, March 30). Universal coverage. //CQ Researcher//, //17//, 265-288. Retrieved November 15, 2007, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2007033000.

"Universal Health Care." __Issues & Controversies On File__ 23 Sept. 2005. __Issues & Controversies @ FACTS.com__. Facts On File News Services. 15 Nov. 2007 <[|http://www.2facts.com>.]

"Universal Health Care Follow-up: Coverage Law Passed in Massachusetts; Several States Consider Similar Measures." __Issues & Controversies On File__ 17 Jan. 2007. __Issues & Controversies @ FACTS.com__. Facts On File News Services. 15 Nov. 2007 <[|http://www.2facts.com>.]

I have been thinking about healthcare in this country for a number of years and the most persistent questions on my mind are:
 * Why, in the United States, do millions of people not have health insurance?
 * How does being uninsured affect the way a person receives healthcare?
 * What ideas are out there to solve this problem?

The Census Bureau recently released its report, [|Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance in the United States, 2006]. The number of uninsured Americans has risen over the past six years and last year the number increased by 2.2 million. In 2005 there were 44.8 million uninsured individuals and in 2006, 47 million. Other highlights of the report included:
 * the number of full-time workers without health insurance rose from 20.8 million in 2005 to 22 million in 2006.
 * the number of uninsured children under 18 had dropped from 1999 to 2004 due to an expansion in coverage of low-income children under Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). However, in 2006 the number jumped more than 600,000 to 8.6 million children.

**What I'm reading to help me understand:**

Jane Bryant Quinn, "Yes, We Can All Be Insured" //Newsweek//, July 30, 2007 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19886686/site/newsweek/page/0/

The Commonwealth Fund [|"Modern Healthcare" Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey: Assessing Health Care Quality and Safety]

Kerry Capell, "The French Lesson in Health Care," //Business Week//, 6/29/2007 Available through EBSCOHOST MAS Ultra, Reed-Gumenick Library Online Resources

Marcia Angell (former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine) "Taking Back the FDA" //Boston Globe// February 26, 2007 http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2007/02/26/taking_back_the_fda/

**What I'm listening to:** Christopher Lydon. //Open Source// "Pharma: The New Drug Lord," Conversation with Dr. Marcia Angell, Broadcast May 13, 2007 http://www.radioopensource.org/under-the-influence-big-pharma/