A Second Look At The Affordable Care Act and American Exceptionalism.

Mike Magee Irrespective of the current stand-off, and posturing posing as debate, six years ago, in 2007, I wrote a piece that analyzed the Boeing Dreamliner project and asked the following questions: “If you wanted to build a new health care system — a vehicle that would transport us to wellness, productivity, security and happiness — where […]

JAMA Feature: Consensus Growing On Next Steps In Sustainable Health Reform

The September 30, 2013 JAMA article, The Elusive Path to Health Care Sustainability by John C. Lewin, MD; G. Lawrence Atkins, PhD; Larry McNeely, MPA reviews various proposals with an eye toward consensus building. They say: “Most significantly, the proposals reveal broad, if not always unanimous, agreement about how to advance the principles they espouse. This agreement offers the basis for crafting the […]

Medicare Funded Home Health Care

Steve Landers MD New England Journal of Medicine Feature this week on Home Health Care funding. “Most older Americans want to age in place.1 The Medicare home health benefit is a prominent national policy supporting older Americans at home and provides for visiting nurse and therapist services from home health agencies (HHAs). In 2012, Medicare […]

Grandparents Should Be Playful.

Mike Magee These are our 9 grandchildren. And this is my baseball glove from when I was a little leaguer. What’s the connection. Well it’s this memory of my grandfather having a catch with me one day in my back yard. A playful memory. Maybe I remember it because it was such a rare occurrence. […]

Don’t Blame Mississippi For Not “Uniting” The United States: “Make It Work!”

Mike Magee In Spring, 1974, my Chief Resident in Surgery at the University of North Carolina, walked into the Emergency Room. It had been a particularly grueling night filled with blood, anguish and the sound of helicopters landing and sirens blowing. The team had performed well, including me – an intern with less than a […]

Why Insurance Exchange Glitches Are A Good Sign and Have Obamacare Opponents Worried.

Mike Magee Glitches in health insurance exchange sites were widely reported yesterday, the first day of a 6 month open enrollment period for new insurance programs offered under the Affordable Care Act. While this was undoubtedly a source of stress for HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, it was a nice problem to have. It was mainly […]

Why Are These Doctor Politicians So Angry With Obamacare When The AMA, AAMC and AHA Are Not?

Mike Magee In 1965, as I graduated from high school, I distinctly remember my father being in an unusually foul mood. He was a doctor through and through, and a huge supporter of the American Medical Association(AMA). He was president of New Jersey’s largest County Medical Society, and later a mentor to Jim Todd, who […]

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