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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
NationalJournal | U.S. to Spend $1 Billion on Patient Safety
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that her agency was dedicating $1 billion from the health care law to two programs to reduce preventable errors that harm and often kill patients in hospitals.
Washington Times | Ryan’s plan for Medicare, Medicaid is game-changer in benefits debate
As the House begins debate this week on the Republicans’ budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year, provisions that call for massive cuts to Medicare and Medicare will dominate - a precursor to the battles over entitlement spending expected to define the 2012 elections.
NationalJournal | Lost in Translation: Interpreters Can Tackle Health Disparities
Not being able to communicate effectively with patients harms their care and can also end up costing everyone more, argued Dr. Joseph Betancourt, the director of the Disparities Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Politico | Obama's challenge: Health reform was the easy part
The problem is, the health care law is already trying most of the changes that could get rid of wasted medical spending painlessly and the experiments aren't even under way yet.

Econ Comments                                                                                                             
WSJ | The Welfare Reform Model for Medicaid
Critics predicted disaster for block grants in 1996. They were proven wrong.
Investors.com | Editorial: Mitt Romney’s RomneyCare Problem
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney begins his second bid for the presidency with an albatross around his neck. The sooner he admits his state version of ObamaCare was a mistake, the better.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Heritage Foundation | Brace for Larger Deficits as Lawmakers Rethink Health Care Law’s Medicare Cuts
Obamacare will cost Americans trillions of dollars in the decades to come. To help pay for its new coverage provisions, the plan makes sweeping cuts to Medicare. But as it turns out, serious doubts exist about the likelihood of these cuts actually occurring, and evidence has already shown that lawmakers may shy away from some of the cuts.