Healthcare

Froma Harrop’s latest jeremiad against the Bush Administration and pharmaceutical companies combined with the news that Michael Moore’s next target for a “documentary” is the pharmaceutical industry has finally prompted me to shake myself of my “healthcare debate” ennui. (Justin has admitted to the same malady in the past). Harrop’s recitiation of an oft-repeated theme…

The Projo editorial board’s comments on recent healthcare happenings in the state mention a strategy — perhaps a necessity — with much broader application: We are unmoved by Blue Cross’s complaint that United is “an out-of-state for-profit company.” In all-too-cozy Rhode Island, being out-of-state can be an advantage, avoiding as it does the local cronyism…

I’ve admitted before that I find healthcare to be an eye-glazing issue — especially in Rhode Island. Sometimes it seems reasonable to wonder whether that’s an effect that the industry actively encourages. As William Gamble’s analysis suggests (to my mind, anyway), Blue Cross of Rhode Island could hardly have been better designed for corruption if…

Writing in the Providence Journal, Emily Harding of the Rhode Island Association of Health Underwriters lays out the general argument for some suggestions for improving the healthcare near-crisis in the state: What made [national health insurance carriers] leave the state had nothing to do with the inability to compete with Blue Cross (which they had…