It’s well known that communications foulups of various types pose serious problems in caring for patients, but how often could something like a hospital paging the appropriate doctor go wrong? Often enough to worry about, a new study in the Archives... 

MedPAC, the obscure commission that advises Congress on the inner workings of the vast Medicare system, could be headed for the health-reform spotlight. Talking yesterday with Senate Democrats about how to pay for his envisioned health overhaul, President... 

Today we get a follow-up to last month’s rather vague promise from a kitchen sink of health-care players to slow the rise of costs in the coming decade. Here’s today’s letter from (deep breath) AHIP, the AMA, the American Hospital Association,... 

Score one for the insurance industry in California’s long-running fight over when insurers can cancel customers’ policies. A judge ruled yesterday that Blue Shield of California acted properly when it rescinded a man’s coverage after... 

Not only is it tough to think about what kind of care you would want at the end of your life; it can be difficult even to imagine what the circumstances might be like. Yet it’s important to consider these things while we’re healthy, so we... 

Expanding insurance coverage is one way to improve patients’ access to health care, but cutting costs has to be part of the formula, too. That’s a takeaway from the latest annual report on the state of Massachusetts’ grand universal-coverage... 

When the Health Blog has to go to the doctor, we fork over our $20 co-pay on the spot and usually any invoice that comes after within 30 days. Turns out that’s faster than it takes nearly two-third of major health plans, with their billions of... 

Here’s a new way of underscoring the burden of health-care costs for U.S. employers: A health-care trust may actually own a significant part of General Motors. Under the deal struck by GM and the United Auto Workers, 17.5% of the company’s... 

After seeing its health-insurance premiums increase to more than $800 a month per employee from about $200 five years ago, Commerce Welding & Manufacturing Co. decided to drop coverage in December, marking the first time in the 64-year-history of... 

It’s not often the Health Blog is summoned to meet with a British lord. But Lord Darzi of Denham called us in the other day to vent some steam about U.S. ads that attack British health care. Darzi, a surgeon and top official in Britain’s Department...