Health Politics

In the continuing decennial cycle, the health care system is now perceived to be in crisis, but when people discuss this crisis they mean different things --- their own insurability (at a reasonable cost) on the individual/small group market, their ability to form a relationship with a doctor who smiles and knows their name, their own rising out-of-pocket costs, health care cost inflation making businesses reluctant to create new jobs, the rate of medical errors, threats to public health such as bioterrorism and previously unknown infectious diseases, inter alia.

Whether or not any of these are actually problems, we are privileged that health policy has again emerged as a key issue at a level of interest perhaps not seen since Wofford's surprise election in 1991. With this interest comes much discussion and coverage. Kaiser does a stupendous job of cataloging and highlighting the daily news in health policy, but I want to talk back to the news and explore the issues at greater depth, leaving the ephemeral issues behind.