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Publications » Newsletters » The Commonwealth Fund Digest
The Commonwealth Fund Digest
November/December 2008
In this Issue
Main Features
In Other News
Recent Grants
Just Published
Main Features
If anyone still wonders why health care reform is a top priority for many in Washington, the most recent Commonwealth Fund survey comparing the experiences of patients in the U.S. with those in other leading industrialized nations should be especially illuminating. Read more »
A new Web site that allows health care providers, researchers, and professionals to conduct side-by-side comparisons of 4,500 hospitals nationwide, track performance over time, and download tools to improve the quality of health care made its debut on December 17. Read more »
In Other News
More than two-thirds of respondents to the latest Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey believe the way we pay for health care in the United States must be fundamentally reformed. Read more »
Interruptions in health insurance coverage are common in the United States. For people covered by a public insurance program like Medicaid, the myriad state rules governing eligibility for coverage are partly to blame: to continue qualifying for benefits, Medicaid beneficiaries must demonstrate eligibility each year and, in some states, as often as every three months. Read more »
When Massachusetts enacted its health reform plan in 2006, some critics voiced concerns that many firms would drop coverage or otherwise cut costs by tightening eligibility standards, increasing workers' premiums, or scaling back on the scope of coverage. Read more »
Commission Says Time for Health Reform Is Now; Is the Boom in Store-Based Health Clinics Ending?; Helping Pediatricians Help Parents; Racial Disparity Found in Prescribing Drugs for Dementia; Quality and Cost Not Necessarily Related, Study Finds; The Commonwealth Fund at 90 Read more »
Recent Grants
Just Published
Quote of Note
"With a large majority of Americans seeking profound change, the moment has come for the United States to take the necessary steps to ensure the health security of all Americans and put the nation's health care system on a path to high performance."
—The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System, in a statement released November 21, 2008.
Related
Disabled Americans' Long Wait for Health Coverage
Mathematica Policy Research's
Gina Livermore, Ph.D., talks about the impact and cost of eliminating Medicare's waiting period.
Read more »