"In Case You Missed It" Healthcare Daily Digest for Wednesday, 12 December

Medicare Reform: Who’s talking about Medicare reform? Everyone. Nancy Pelosi has an Op-Ed piece in USA Today arguing that Republicans are treating Medicare as a hostage and a moving goal-post, and that plans to raise the Medicare age to 67 is a bad idea. Duncan Black, also at USA Today, agrees: “It’s not a hyperbole. Raising the Medicare age is really a horrible idea.” Chris Conover over at Forbes.com (“I explode myths that pervade health policy debates.”) isn’t necessarily interested in the implications of age increases on Medicare. He just wants to make sure you know that taxing the wealthy isn’t a good idea. “Singling out a small segment of the population for a tax hike is a bad idea as it fuels the politics of envy,” he argues. “Envy is not an admirable character trait.” The Incidental Economist has a handy FAQ that looks at six consequences of raising the Medicare retirement age, a nice companion to this Washington Post blog post on the same topic. You could, of course, skip all of those previous links and allow Salvatore Babones over at truthout.com to tell you why you’re “Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong” about, well, everything involving Medicare. “Most people understand Medicare as an insurance system for seniors. In reality, Medicare is an insurance program for hospitals.” So to wrap up: Medicare is or isn’t in need of reform — and, at the moment, that may be as close as we’re going to get to a definitive answer.

Other healthcare news you might have missed around the Internet:

• High Deductible Health Insurance Tracking: You can check out an interesting discussion over on Evernote titled High Deductible Health Insurance Tracking? “We are switching to a high deductible health insurance plan starting in Jan 2013. I’ve looked all over the internet hoping to find that someone has created a good system for keeping track of everything in one place but haven’t been able to find anything.”

• Pros and Cons of Bringing Your Own Device Into the Healthcare Workplace: BYOD — shorthand for Bring Your Own Device — is a topic you’re going to hear more and more about as our jobs more and more blur the line between Work Us and Home Us. You’ll find the benefits and pitfalls in this article by Denise Amrich.

• When He’s Just Not That Into You and Also He’s a Healthcare System: Steward Health Care says it ‘unilaterally withdrew’ from talks to buy Maine hospital group. The Boston Globe has the whole story.

• And Polls Never Lie: According to a WISH-TV/Ball State University Hoosier survey, Indiana’s governor-elect Mike Pence might be at odds with Indianans — or, at least, Indianans who take surveys. The issue:  who’s going to create a health insurance exchange, part of the new health care reform law? Indiana’s three options: choose a state run exchange, allow the federal government to create it or work with the federal government on a so-called hybrid exchange. Pence has said he refuses to create a state-run exchange which means Indiana will operate one set up by the federal government. However, Indianan’s have other ideas.

• Small Businesses and Healthcare Reform: Over at Georgia’s Covington News, Gabriel Khouli recaps a webinar on the Affordable Care Act for small businesses. Three topics were covered: the employer mandate, the expansion of Medicaid and healthcare insurance exchanges.

• You Get a New Job and YOU Get a New Job!: Kaiser Permanente is bringing 500 new information technology jobs, so clean your kid brother up and get him off your computer and out of your basement and over to Greenwood Village.

• Infographic: What Is The Aim of An Accountable Care Organization: Sometimes pictures and charts can convey what reasoned explanations cannot. HIT Consultant’s infographic walks through complicated numbers and concepts with stock art and directional arrows. Maybe this will help?

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