Optum-izing Paul Ellwood’s HMOs.

Paul Ellwood and Richard Burke Mike Magee According to Paul Ellwood, often labeled “The Father of the HMO”, the seeds of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) were buried in a report that he delivered to the 34-year-old Assistant Secretary of Health, Phil Lee, in 1969. As Ellwood recalled in 2010, […]

Giving Up The Ghost: Republican State Legislators Begin To Acquiesce to Medicaid Expansion.

Mike Magee In a recent analysis of the U.S. and Canadian health care systems, two things were clear. First, Canada Health Care was planned, and our’s just happened. And second, both nations favored regional over federal delivery systems. In the U.S., that meant a strong bias toward state management, while in Canada the provinces and […]

The Economic Determinants of Homeland Security: Why The U.S. Is A Better Bet Than China or Russia.

Mike Magee Homeland security is all about economics. And the two levers most critical to the U.S. economy are energy independence and health care. On these two measures, I like America’s odds when compared to China and Russia. Growing up through the 50’s and 60’s, I’d listen to my parents discuss politics with their friends. […]