How Medicaid Is Socializing and Polularizing Single Payer Approaches To Population Health.

Mike Magee As the Republican controlled Senate prepares for a ballot today to vote on a bill yet to be identified, their governor counterparts in 31 of our 50 states are fast at work familiarizing themselves and socializing themselves to a new way of managing the health of populations within their geographic boundaries – single […]

Doctor Senators Barrasso and Price – They Are No Royal Copeland.

Sen. Royal Copeland M.D. (D, NY) Mike Magee This week the Republican leadership once again released an unapologetically regressive plan for America’s healthcare that would drive a further wedge between rich and poor and sow despair deep into America’s soul. Sadly, two of the primary leaders of the effort are fellow physicians, Sen. John Barrasso […]

The Secret To Making America Healthy – K.I.S.S.

Mike Magee As the debate over health care in America rages anew this week, the great lie oft repeated but never defended is that our system is too complex to wrestle to the ground. That is the lie, reinforced over half a century, that has left our citizens and now our entire economy at risk. […]

American Health Care’s “Original Sin”

Mike Magee As a young surgeon in rural New England, serving farmers and mountain people on the Massachusetts/Vermont border, my growing interest in health management was fueled by two luminaries – one 90 miles to the north and the other 90 miles to the east. One was fast at work mining Medicare databases to expose […]

Medicaid: The Base For Single Payer Health Care?

“Don’t mess with my Medicaid!” That was clearly the takeaway for Republican legislators heard as they met with hometown crowds in the lead up to their historic Trumpcare defeat. Whether they have “given up the ghost” only time will tell. But as the facts below suggest, going back at Medicaid today means attacking a program […]

Price-Less: Make America Red Again.

Mike Magee In the weeks ahead, we will see how far backwards our health will slide under Republican leadership. In the President’s budget proposal this week, we see that he doesn’t care much for the EPA. Juxtapose that with this week’s BMJ study revealing a link between global warming and rising rates of diabetes. “Fake […]

Medicaid Caps and Paul Ryan’s “Good Old Days”.

Paul Ryan’s “A Better Way” is actually the same old way circa 1960 when Medicaid Caps were all the rage, with Welfare providing “medical vendor payments”. What did that look like? State spending was low: $12 billion nationwide in 2014 dollars covering <2% of citizens. Eligibility, coverage and utilization were tightly constrained. No care for […]