Selected blog posts, tip sheets and conference presentations to help reporters make sense of Health Policy for their readers, listeners and viewers.
What questions do you have about Health Policy and how to cover it?
Joanne Kenen is AHCJ’s health reform topic leader. She is writing blog posts, tip sheets, articles and gathering resources to help our members cover the complex implementation of Health Policy. If you have questions or suggestions for future resources on the topic, please send them to joanne@healthjournalism.org.
Covering Health Policy issues
In this tip sheet compiled for Health Journalism 2011, Julie Appleby offers a list of useful websites for covering Health Policy.
Affordable Care Act: What is 'premium support?'
This quintessential Washington phrase is in the news because House Budget chairman Paul Ryan wants to turn Medicare into a "premium support" program. It's not a totally new idea – House Republicans, including former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former House Ways and Means chairman Bill Thomas, had somewhat similar ideas that began circulating in the mid-1990s. But the Ryan idea is starker – or bolder, depending on your perspective. AHCJ's health reform topic leader Joanne Kenen explains what it really means and points members to some resources to help sort it out for readers, listeners and viewers.
Health care reform: Litigation update
Kenneth Jost of CQ Press and CQ Researcher outlines key cases in the battle over Health Policy as well as organizations involved in the litigation and experts and websites that are following the developments in this tip sheet prepared for "Health Policy: Repeal, replace or implement?" at Health Journalism 2011.
Three Health Policy issues to watch In the states (and what to write about them!)
Politico's Sarah Kliff offers story ideas about health exchanges, insurance rate hikes, medical loss ratio waivers and points readers to some resources to help with those stories in this tip sheet from "Health Policy: Repeal, replace or implement?" at Health Journalism 2011.
Health Coverage under the Affordable Care Act
Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, of Washington and Lee University, compiled this tip sheet for the Health Journalism 2011 panel "Health insurance: Changes that are coming fast." It outlines how coverage will be expanded, the five categories of coverage, plan requirements as well as pros and cons, and information about enforcement of the Affordable Care Act.
Lessons learned from Massachusetts: Covering the impact of Health Policy on a local level
Tips from Karen Brown, of WFCR Public Radio in Amherst, Mass., compiled for the Health Journalism 2011 panel "What we've learned from the Massachusetts experiment." Brown suggests the people you should be talking to and how to find the stories your audience will appreciate.
Affordable Care Act: The politics of health care, year two, by Joanne Kenen
Meeting the challenges of explaining Health Policy, by Joanne Kenen
The Affordable Care Act: What to cover at the one-year mark, by Joanne Kenen
Officials, health system administrator discuss challenges, implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Feb. 24, 2011 (audio available)
Health care reform has passed: What's next?
Suggestions from four reporters on how to approach the topic
Covering high-risk insurance pools
Four reporters who have covered the topic offer story tips, suggestions and resources.
What’s next? Reporting on Health Policy between now and 2014
Transcipt of a briefing co-sponsored by AHCJ and related resources
Toolkit: Fresh Ideas for Reporting on Health Policy
Story ideas, reform timelines, expert sources and resources to help you cover implementation.
'Landmark:' Behind the scenes of covering health care reform
Joanne Kenen interviews two of the authors of a book about about how the ACA evolved and how it will affect individuals, small businesses and insurers.
Will More Physicians Improve the Health of Patients?
Conference presentation from David C. Goodman, M.D., M.S., Center for Health Policy Research at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice
Understanding the fundamentals of health insurance & implications for reform
Conference presentation from actuary Tim Lee
Assessing Health Policy: Is There a Looming Doctor Shortage?
Conference presentation from Kevin Barnett, Dr.P.H., M.C.P., senior investigator, Public Health Institute
Health reporting resources for journalists on state and local government beats
Tips from longtime state government reporter Nancy Cook Lauer
Upcoming event: APHA midyear meeting: Implementing Health Policy – A public health approach, June 23-25, Chicago
