THE TWO-MIDNIGHT RULE Mac Sterling, MD and Melvyn Sterling, MD “The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of hospitals and OPOs Of Medicare and dings And why two midnights are the cause Of patients selling rings.” —with apologies to Lewis Carroll Medicare has formulated a new rule—the two-midnight rule—to reduce […]

Approximately in July of 2014 there were a number of new Medicare regulations that came down the pike which we had to learn second hand. We wrote the same prescriptions we’ve written for decades and our patient and pharmacists called or faxed back that those Rx were no longer covered. Medicare had changed to a […]

One In Five Doctors Say: “No New Medicare Patients” If you learned that 93 percent of non-pediatric primary care physicians took Medicare patients and 94 percent took patients with private insurance, you would likely conclude that Medicare is doing just fine. Unfortunately, such data do not describe physicians’ behavior at the margin, which is what […]

By John Goodman Filed under Medicaid August 8, 2012 Health Affairs: Although 96 percent of physicians accepted new patients in 2011, rates varied by payment source: 31 percent of physicians were unwilling to accept any new Medicaid patients; 17 percent would not accept new Medicare patients; and 18 percent of physicians would not accept new […]

A Healthy Alternative: Opting Out of Federal Health-care Funding Could Save Money and Lead to Better Access Nadeem Esmail Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute Last week, Premier Klein suggested that Alberta might reform the health care system in ways that would conflict with the myriad rules and regulations enshrined in the Canada Health Act. The planned […]

by John C. Goodman, Gerald L. Musgrave, and Devon M. Herrick As we move further into the twenty-first century, it is clear that we are living with a number of institutions that were not designed for the Information Age. One of those institutions is health care. Virtually everyone agrees that our health care system needs […]

The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care David Gratzer Socialized medicine has meant rationed care and lack of innovation. Small wonder Canadians are looking to the market. Mountain-bike enthusiast Suzanne Aucoin had to fight more than her Stage IV colon cancer. Her doctor suggested Erbitux—a proven cancer drug that targets cancer cells exclusively, unlike conventional […]

Capitalism Can Be Responsible By Julie Meyer, Editor, Entrepreneurial Country The phrase “responsible capitalism” is never going to set the world on fire. Movies will not be made about it, and MBA graduates may sneer. And yet, businesses that are built responsibly, particularly small and medium-sized companies, are destined to succeed. Against a backdrop of […]

Coming Soon To America: A Two-Tiered, Canadian-Style Health Care System Commentary by John C Goodman May 23, 2013 Source: Forbes I believe we are moving toward two different health systems. In one, patients will be able to see doctors promptly. They will talk to physicians by phone and email. They will have no difficulty scheduling needed […]

The Price of Public Health Care Insurance in Canada August 16, 2013 Canadians often misunderstand the true cost of their public health care system. This occurs partly because Canadians do not incur direct expenses for their use of health care and partly because Canadians cannot readily determine the value of their contribution to public health […]