health wonk review here at health

"Health Wonk Review" Here At Health Policy and Marketplace Review

This week it's my turn to host Health Wonk Review. HWR is designed to

highlight some of the best posts in the health blog world.

What I found remarkable this time was the sheer number of thoughtful

submissions. The number and quality of health care blogs continues to

grow.

It's a long, but terrific, list so I'll try to make it easy reading:

Brian Kleppper, posting over at "Health Commentary" gives us his take

on the importance of California health reform and his worry that it

will end up being more about taking care of the special interests than

the strong medicine our system really needs. You know, I think Brian

is just another one of those independently wealthy health care

consultants who likes to cause trouble.

Speaking of independently wealthy health care consultants who cause

lots of trouble, Joe Paduda, over at Managed Care Matters, gives us

his take on John McCain's health plan now that the Senator is back in

the game. You can also access my detailed analysis of McCain's plan on

this site.

Jason Shafrin probably isn't the wealthiest health care blogger, but

this kid may be the smartest. This time Jason gives us his take on the

Democratic candidates' health care plans in an easy reading detailed

analysis on, "Healthcare Economist." Wonder where Jason will be in

thirty years?

Anthony Wright, with "Health Access California," points to a recent

New York Times chart comparing the various presidential candidate's

positions on health care but also gives us his sense about where the

differences are. By the way, if you are following California reform,

you need to keep an eye on this site.

I don't know how wealthy he is, but I do know Chris Fleming posts on a

heck of a content rich site--"Health Affairs." This time Chris

comments on the latest federal data from CMS on health care spending.

Merrill Goozner also gives us his take on the report over at,

"GoozNews."

Roy Poses on, "Health Care Renewal," a must on your health blog

bookmark list, this time tells us about the CFO that put greed in

front of good judgment in health care and the predicable result.

I found Bob Vineyard's piece, on the recent death of the young girl

who was denied a liver transplant, on the always worthwhile,

"InsureBlog," to be a particularly compelling one this time.

Maggie Mahar also gives us a most thoughtful perspective on this

recent controversy over cost and end-of-life care in her post, "Bad

Cases Make Bad Law," on her blog, "Health Beat."

Lisa Emrich, my favorite health care musician, has a a post this time

on a recent study and the controversy over the value of free drug

samples and compares and contrasts the pharmaceutical industry's

statement with her take on it.

But David Williams sees it an a very different way with his post,

"Drug Samples Not Going To The Poor. So What?," on "Health Business

Blog."

From one of the best business insurance sites, Julie Ferguson recaps

the top insurance news from 2007 at "Workers' Comp Insider." Julie

also recommends a post by John Coppelman about a neurosurgeon awaiting

sentencing in a kickback scheme over surgical implants.

Louise from, "Colorado Insurance Shopper," gives us her take on the

recent California health insurance policy rescission controversy.

Louse just reminds us that the people who work in the market every day

often have a lot more common sense than those in the corporate suite

who think the way to deal with their customers is through the legal

department.

Over at "Wealth Builder," "Super Saver" gives us some outside the box

thinking about how to require that people buy health insurance in

quite an unconventional way.

David Harlow does his usually great job of keeping us up-to-date on

health law at "HealthBlawg," this time with his post, "ERISA

Pre-Emption Ruling Bites San Fran Health Care Coverage Mandate."

Daniel Goldberg, at "Medical Humanities Blog," discusses a recent

study that demonstrates a link between having insurance and good

treatment but still leaves him thinking there may be a more powerful

argument in favor of universal care on ethical, compared to, policy

grounds.

Adam Fein at, "Drug Channels" looks at December's unexpected

injunction against CMS in, "No AMP for You!" The injunction stems from

a lawsuit brought against CMS by two retail pharmacy trade

associations to stop the use of Average Manufacturer Price (AMP) data

to set reimbursement limits for Medicaid prescription drugs. Adam

highlights the effect on payers, manufacturers, and pharmacies in one

of the only blog posts on this important but little-understood topic.

I just cut and pasted Adam's description because this issue is so

complicated I can't even describe it. Adam is one heck of a resource

for the rest of us on the nits of drug pricing.

Neil Versel posts about two separate federal health IT initiatives and

offers some commentary about the chance of meaningful Medicare reform