It never was about Health. It never was about universal coverage. Access does not equal care and certainly not quality care. Yes, one side "won." But this is not a victory for you.

It is not a left-wing agenda. It is not socialized medicine. This is the first time the...

Too often have I written about the endgame. Shades of Mark Twain -- reports of my death are exaggerated. But this really is the ninth inning. The problem is the president is looking for the long ball -- the out of the park home run. When he should have been...

Last night health care reform died. What went wrong? A plethora of explanations from all the usual suspects to follow. You will hear some rumblings of dissent -- press on.

The simple answer: everything was wrong. This never was about health care reform. This was always an attempt at...

Half a loaf? No, worse. Here is your Christmas present -- a big lump of coal. Let me simplify and make clear my assertion. You are ill and need help. You want the best. Whose wise counsel and help do you seek? You want someone who is sympathetic, skilled and...

We have seen the emergence of "evidence-based medicine" in the last 10 years. This has been an effort to further legitimize and give scientific basis to common medical therapies. A medical version of "show me the money." I have always thought this was rather inane, since it presumed that all...

After countless months, the debate marches on. Congressional House and Senate bills proliferate. I have lost track. It is beyond our comprehension trying to read through each of these bills.

There have been many lost opportunities. This has never been about health care reform. This is about health insurance regulation....

What is the message?

What do you want?

The World Health Organization definition of health has not changed since 1949. We were asked this the first day of medical school. No one answered correctly:

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the...

Post-war Britain, and Londoners in particular, had suffered mightily after two years of punishing aerial bombardment. The East End of London had been reduced to rubble.

Winston Churchill, arguably the greatest leader and politician of the 20th century, was turned out of office. A new day dawned. Anuerin Nye Bevin,...

As I wrote so many weeks ago, the health insurance industry will not lose this battle ... any more than the too-big-to-fail Banks have ... at monumental public expense.

Max Baucus' political contributions from the health care and finance industry are well documented. Now they have enlisted Tom Daschle...

Joseph Campbell first offered this sage aphorism:

"If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor." -- Joseph Campbell

The president subtly changed the metaphor this morning in a major financial address. Instead of the phrase health care reform he used the phrase health...

And now we wait for the speech of a lifetime. The make or break -- defining speech. We wish this unreal set of expectations on no one.

Medicare for all?

Let me renew this debate with trilogy of blogs over the next week. First with a set of charts and...

The Patriarch of the Kennedy Dynasty has passed. Whither now health care reform? Why is this important?

For the last 40 years Edward Kennedy was the voice of the under-represented. His lifetime goal was a more perfect and accessible health care system in the United States. He worked tirelessly to...