John Wasik
“I would keep a close eye on how they finagle out of pocket costs and benefits in this transition period until 2014.”
That was the final summary from John Wasik during an online chat about how reporters should tackle health-care issues now that the law has been passed.
“It will be a very trying time for those who need insurance if the industry gets nasty,” Wasik warned as he offered the BusinessJournalism.org readers tips on covering the topic.
WHAT:
Special Daily Story Idea Chat on health-care with John Wasik, veteran journalist who is writing a book on health-care reform. Tuesday, April 6, 2010.
BOTTOM LINE:
1) are more businesses able to find affordable coverage
2) are the tax credits meaningful in providing the coverage
3) what will the private insurers do to recover more of their costs.
FULL ARCHIVE OF CHAT:
Health-care, John Wasik, April 6, 2010
TIPS, RESOURCES and TAKEAWAYS:
Summaries of the final legislation: Search House.gov for ‘health care’ or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s site.
For the many valid criticisms of the bill: Dan Froomkin’s blog on Huffington Post, March 31, 2010, Insurance Industry Already Finding Ways To Game New System
Physicians for a National Health Program for background on the single-payer plan.
Wasik: “I would start calling some large and small employers in your area. Are they seeing better renewal rates for their policies? Are insurers jacking up rates? Are they layering on high deductibles or out of pocket expenses?”
Ezra Klein’s blog on Washpost.com.
HCAN, Health Care for America Now, and the California Nurses Association. These groups are very much single-payer oriented, but they will be watchdogging the whole process.
Wasik: Another thing for businesses to monitor: How much of their health care dollars are being spent on care, aka “medical loss ratio.” The higher the ratio, the more dollars are going to care.
Dan Froomkin’s blog on Huffington Post.
Google Scholar to find any papers written on previous tax incentives.
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and WhiteHouse.gov: For data to help create visual storytelling about health-care.
Good.is site has a health page where they showcase visual reporting.
CCH.com for excellent briefings on the tax implications for businesses? They’ve been a great source for years and have folks who can actually explain how credits work.
Corporate consultants like Mercer or Hewitt do industry-wide surveys that cover a large number of employers.
Kaiser Family Foundation and they have been writing a lot about the new law: Pulling it Together
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services: Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services for a demographic breakdown of Medicaid recipients, nationally or state by state.
About the Author
I became Web managing editor at the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism in mid-2009. Before that I was Online Community Manager for azcentral, the online site for The Arizona Republic. Before arriving in Arizona, I worked at Newsday where I was Deputy Business Editor. I was the small business editor at BusinessWeek Online. I teach journalists to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools to expand and manage their networks.
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