In some parts of the country, health care-related posturing for the 2012 election is already in full swing. Over at CJR.org, AHCJ Immediate Past President Trudy Lieberman applauds a forceful bit of health care reform fact-checking by Minnesota Public Radio reporter Lorna Benson. In her piece, Benson carefully picks apart claims made by former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty as he touts his Health Policy record as a key piece of his 2012 presidential campaign.
Pawlenty’s two big health talking points are his “baskets of care,” or bundled payments for certain procedures, and his pay-for-performance plan. While both sound promising on paper, Benson found that some gaping holes had opened up as soon as the rubber met the road. See Benson’s full piece for the details of how any real change has been difficult to track or, indeed, even to detect at all.
