|
In a system where profits, not patient health, is the top priority of
many health care providers, states are beginning to develop "pay for
performance" incentives and promoting other innovations to hold
providers more broadly accountable.
|
That fragmentation of the health care system lies at the root of much
of the waste and fraud in our health care system. Each player tries
to pump up profits and often waste through excessive billing of third
parties. Each party avoids taking responsibility by shifting
the increased costs onto...
|
Target management apparently didn't get the memo. Faced with stagnating
wages and increasing inequality, American workers and taxpayers are
waking up to the big box gambit where irresponsible employers subsidize
their low wages through favorable tax packages. When Target threatened
to stop opening...
|
|
A followup to Monday's Dispatch
on waste and corruption in privatization of government services: it
turns out that Accenture, the company that screwed up in taking over
Texas's human services computer systems, is also a star player in a new
Congressional report, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement of...
|
Here's a shocking fact. When doctors prescribe prescription drugs,
the big drug companies get access to data on which doctors are
prescribing which drugs to patients. Pharmaceutical companies then load
the data up on sales reps' laptop computers to help figure out which
doctors are the best targets...
|
A number of state leaders have been promoting what seems like a free
lunch. Hand over control of government services to private industry and
those companies promise better service at a lower price. Like most
promises of a free lunch, privatization has mostly ended up being a
deceptive boondoggle, a...
|
|
There are few more potent tools for impacting the outcomes of elections
than changing what appears on the ballot. And there are no more direct
paths from public outcry to passed legislation than through ballot
issues. For years, the rightwing has been advancing policy goals,
shaping message, and...
|
This past week, Illinois Governor Blagojevich signed
the first law in the nation that establishes the goal of
universally-available public preschool for all 3- and 4-year olds in
that state.
|
By a vote of 35 to 14, the Chicago city council yesterday approved a new ordinance
requiring large retailers in the city to phase in a living wage for
their employees of $10 per hour plus $3 per hour in benefits-- the
highest minimum wage established for any industry sector in the
country. If...
|
|
For years, the delivery company FedEx has claimed that its ground
drivers are not employees but independent contractors-- meaning the
company didn't have to pay for workers compensation, unemployment
insurance or extend a range of other worker protections.
|
Supporters of Oregon's unique universal vote-by-mail system got
a serious leg up this month when the NAACP adopted a resolution
formally endorsing the system. The NAACP joins the AFL-CIO in publicly
backing the system, which has gained widespread support among
representatives of working families...
|
Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted
to create a health care plan to provide health care coverage for the
85,000 uninsured residents of that city. While there are additional
votes needed to finalize the bill, with a unanimous vote and the
endorsement of the mayor, the proposed...
|
