Healthcare

The Other Problem with the Roberts Healthcare Plan

By Carroll Andrew Morse | April 4, 2008 |

There is very little chance that the core of Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts’ healthcare plan, if passed into law, would survive a court challenge. The doomed element, described by Cynthia Needham of the Projo, is the requirement that…Businesses with more than 10 employees would be expected to purchase insurance for their workers, or face fines.Here’s…

The Roberts Paradox

By Carroll Andrew Morse | April 4, 2008 |

Cynthia Needham reports in today’s Projo on the beginning of Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts’ statewide tour to promote her proposed new healthcare mandates…Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts last night kicked off a statewide tour in South Providence to promote her health-care plan, making the first of 15 stops… Similar to the Massachusetts system, the Roberts plan…

What the Numbers Show

By Justin Katz | April 3, 2008 |

Unfortunately, neither Community Catalyst nor RIte Care Works, the author and promoter respectively, seem interested in providing the full details behind a press release from The Clarendon Group that appears to support the conclusion that every dollar of RI government money taken from RIte Care comes with a 12¢ cost in economic activity but save…

The Behavior Gap

By Justin Katz | March 25, 2008 |

Let me say right up front that access to healthcare must be improved and expanded, although it goes beyond the scope of this post to delve into the different understandings of the whats and hows of that mandate. Even were that goal to be achieved quickly, however, I suspect that the life expectancy gap between…

Speaking of Illegal Immigration…

By Justin Katz | March 13, 2008 |

… and other budget draining policies in Rhode Island, I’d suggest that most of the solutions for this problem are of an indirect nature: The heads of four Rhode Island hospitals testified yesterday that their medical institutions are teetering on the brink of financial disaster. And they pleaded with key lawmakers to help — or…

Healthcare Consumer Question of the Day

By Carroll Andrew Morse | March 12, 2008 |

Here is a question for the sage and practical-minded readers of Anchor Rising: Recently, a friend of mine had an appointment with a doctor who has a policy requiring a $40 payment for appointments cancelled on the same day. Said friend arrived on time. Said doctor did not, not seeing the patient until 45 minutes…

Just Stop It!

By Justin Katz | February 28, 2008 |

Why do our legislators have such difficulty seeing the problem with bills like this: Already successful in securing enactment of legislation to increase the level of hearing aid coverage in health insurance policies, Rep. Robert B. Jacquard (D-Dist. 17, Cranston) has introduced a bill aimed at assisting more hearing-impaired citizens. Under Representative Jacquard’s bill, health…

First, the Stick

By Justin Katz | February 20, 2008 |

Amazingly, even as they stumble into understanding of that which is making it hard to breathe in Rhode Island, they continue to tighten the noose: In an effort to slow down the steep rise of health insurance costs in Rhode Island, Sen. Joshua Miller has introduced legislation that would prohibit health insurers in the state…

Cross-Purpose Reform

By Justin Katz | February 15, 2008 |

Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts’s healthcare proposal (PDF) strikes me as a hodgepodge with components at odds with each other. There doesn’t appear to be a guiding principle, creating the risk that the good points of the program would put a reform-like light on the bad parts, potentially without even passing themselves. New representative Frank Ferri…

Well, Maybe if the Doctor’s Office Was in the Mall….

By Marc Comtois | February 1, 2008 |

I gotta say, even I was surprised to learn that somehow RIPTA depended on Medicaid money to keep running. A federal clampdown on the state’s Medicaid program will cost as many as 18,000 needy Rhode Islanders their free bus passes and will force the state to make up for millions of dollars in lost transit…