As I have mentioned in the past, I am now posting on null.com as well as here on HealthBeat. (I write separate pieces for the two sites; sometimes we cross-link the posts.)
Healthinsurance.org (HIO) is a consumer-focused guide to health insurance and a vocal advocate of health care reform. An independent web site, it was founded in 1994 to arm consumers with the information they need to understand insurance coverage and health reform proposals, compare policies and find affordable medical insurance. HIO is not an insurance company or broker, although it links to sites where shoppers can get pricing and information on plans.
HIO’s articles and blog posts from health care writers are more often than not critical of the insurance industry for long-standing practices that include denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions, cancellation of policies when customers fall sick, and the industry’s failure to include maternity benefits in most individual plans.
Today, both Linda Bergthold (who worked on the Clinton Health Reform plan and was the head of the Obama health care blog team in 2008) and U. of Chicago ProfessorHarold Pollack (who has published widely about poverty policy and public health) contribute to null.com. I urge you to take a look at their posts. (Just go to the top of the site’s homepage and click on Blog.)
Below, you will find the first section of a post that I published on null.com about a week ago, with a link to the rest of the piece.
This week, HIO published another post where I attempt to counter the fear-mongering about reform. Gloomsters predict that as more Americans are insured, doctors’ waiting rooms, hospitals and ERS will be packed. Some of reform’s opponents warn that you won’t be able you get an appointment with your own doctor. Others suggest that as demand for medical care rises, so will prices.
The number-crunchers at Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Health Research Institute have just published a report telling us that this is Not True. Check out the post.
Finally, long-time readers no doubt noticed that when I re-launched HealthBeat last summer, the website sported a new, greatly improved design. It’s sharper, more attractive, and the “search” engine works!
When I began writing for healthInsurance.org last spring, HIO founder Charles Smith-Dewey volunteered to give HealthBeat a new look. He also offered to host HealthBeat on his server. Many thanks to Chuck for his generosity—I couldn’t have brought the blog back to life without HIO’s help.
Thanks also to HealthBeat readers for their loyalty and their comments. (Readership is back to where it was, and is growing.)
Finally, if you’re not getting e-mails telling you when I have published new posts, just go to “Subscribe to Maggie’s Updates” in the upper-right corner of this page.
Fear mongering is driving the public opinion. Unfortunately, not enough of us understand even our own policies and yet we comment on legislation we don’t understand either. I am a widow with 3 kids. I have gone without health insurance when times were tough. Now, I pay for our heatlh insurance and I cannot afford to shoulder the cost of another person’s refusal to manage their own risk. Misinformation by design is mental manipulation that we as consumers have endured too often in the past few years.