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Vermonters, joined by New Englanders from neighboring states, convened in Burlington, VT Tuesday to share their opinions on our health care system with the White House – and you can too in upcoming weeks if you live in (or near) Iowa, North Carolina or California. Read more »

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We talk to our doctors about the most personal – and embarrassing – things. And doctors have never been shy about probing (literally) into some of the most intimate areas of our lives. Yet when it comes to talking about the costs of prescription drugs, both patients and doctors fail miserably. And by avoiding the topic of cost, we often end up damaging our health, as well as our wallets. Read more »

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The much-beleagured Food and Drug Administration looks to be finally getting some strong leadership. Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the former health commissioner for New York City, and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, currently Baltimore's health commissioner, are expected to be nominated soon by President Obama. Read more »

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You’ll be hearing a lot in the coming months about how we should trust the marketplace – ie, big insurance companies – more than our own government to provide us affordable health coverage. And how our leaders shouldn’t offer us the choice of a publicly run insurance plan in addition to private insurance options. But a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that when insurance companies are allowed to run the show – as they now do in providing seniors a prescription drug benefit through Medicare Part D –seniors and taxpayers end up spending too much. Read more »

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Today’s health care summit at the White House was unique for what it wasn’t – it wasn’t a closed-door, back-room meeting between wheelers and dealers plotting out what Americans are going to get when it comes to their health care. It was an inclusive, open-door exchange of ideas where folks from across the health spectrum – doctors to insurance companies to politicians to patients – got a chance to talk about what they hope our health care system will become. Read more »

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As leaders gather Thursday in the White House to flesh out proposals to get more Americans affordable health coverage, they’ll be greeted in part by a Bronx cheer – a new round of radio and TV ads aimed at defeating their work. Read more »

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