Jackson Library

Hot Topics: The Business of Healthcare

Selected articles

Due to contractual arrangements, access to some articles may be restricted to the Stanford community, and subscribers of the "Library Databases" offered through the GSB Alumni's Lifelong Learning Program. Inclusion below does not imply University endorsement of the ideas expressed.

Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform. New York Times, 11/15/09
Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.
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Democrats Raise Alarms Over Health Bill Costs. New York Times, 11/9/09
As health care legislation moves toward a crucial airing in the Senate, the White House is facing a growing revolt from some Democrats and analysts who say the bills Congress is considering do not fulfill President Obama’s promise to slow the runaway rise in health care spending.
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In need of business skills. Financial Times, 11/8/09
With healthcare accounting for about 18 per cent of expenditure in the US and representing sizeable chunks of the economies of other countries, you might expect the industry to feature prominently in business school programmes.
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Business leaders' opposition to public health insurance option takes chutzpah. LA Times, 11/1/09
It took more than a little chutzpah for the chief executives of Eastman Kodak and Verizon Wirelesss to go before reporters the other day to denounce a government health insurance plan as being bad for America.
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Health plan’s effect on costs may be slight. The Boston Globe, 10/12/09
Despite repeated promises by President Obama and Democratic leaders that their health care overhaul would lower costs, the proposals before Congress would probably not cut overall US health care spending significantly anytime soon, health policy specialists say.
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Health Insurance Exchanges: Will They Work? New York Times, 10/5/09
Despite all the disagreement in Washington, every proposal now before Congress to overhaul the nation’s health care system includes creation of an insurance “exchange” — a marketplace that would operate something like a Travelocity Web site for insurance policies.
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Big Food vs. Big Insurance. New York Times, 9/9/09
An opinion piece written by Michael Pollan, a contributing writer for The Times Magazine and a professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, is the author of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”
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Changing Health Care by Steps. New York Times, 9/1/09
Next week, Congress will return to session, and health care, of course, will be at the top of its agenda. Passing a bill, it’s clear, will be no easier than in previous decades.
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Are Insurers' Profits As Low As They Claim? NPR, 8/3/09
As the health care overhaul battle moves out of Washington and onto the airways and main streets during the August recess, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the trade association for the nation's health insurers, is fighting a familiar battle.
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Health Bill Clears Hurdle and Hints at Consensus. New York Times, 7/31/09
House members headed home on Friday, leaving behind the outlines of a nearly $1 trillion health care overhaul that is sure to draw fire from a variety of interests, but also shows the beginnings of a consensus that would provide insurance for more Americans and give them new rights in dealing with insurers.
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Challenge to Health Bill: Selling Reform. New York Times, 7/21/09
Our health care system is engineered, deliberately or not, to resist change. The people who pay for it — you and I — often don’t realize that they’re paying for it.
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Small-Business Support Sought On Health Care. NPR, 7/17/09
Small business is suddenly playing a big role in negotiations over health care. Supporters and opponents of various plans to overhaul the system are all trying to paint themselves as champions of mom and pop entrepreneurs.
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Health Care Rationing Rhetoric Overlooks Reality. New York Times, 7/17/09
The r-word has become a rejoinder to anyone who says that this country must reduce its runaway health spending, especially anyone who favors cutting back on treatments that don’t have scientific evidence behind them.
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5 Questions: Fuchs on federal health insurer. Stanford Medical Center Report, 06/17/09
For many Democrats, the key issue in health-care reform is the creation of a government health insurance program to compete with the private sector. Stanford's Victor Fuchs, a leading health economist, is skeptical of the idea. Paul Costello, executive director of the medical school's communications office, spoke with him for a podcast in the "1:2:1" program.
View transcript (with podcast)

What's a public health plan anyway? CNNMoney, 6/9/09
Details are sparse and consensus is far off, but the debate is on. Here's a look at some ideas being floated.
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Salvaging U.S. Health Care. Stanford Business Magazine, 5/2008
Everyone agrees the U.S. system needs resuscitation, but reform is an elusive goal.
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Selected Videos

Alan Garber, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and the director of the Center for Health Policy and of the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research at Stanford University, discusses the importance of distinguishing between a treatment's effectiveness and its value, and in turn what role evidence-based medicine should play in today's coverage decisions.

Bruce Bodaken, CEO and Chairman of Blue Shield, discusses what he thinks leaders must do in order to finally make health care reform a reality.

Page updated by: Nora Richardson

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