Yesterday, the House approved a plan that’ll give electronic vouchers up to $4,500 to car owners who trade in their old gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient models. Similar “cash for clunkers” programs are already in place in Europe, and various bills have been discussed in the U.S. for months. Originally, the plan was offered as a …
government
Healthcare: Where’s Dr. Kevorkian When You Need Him?
“Nowhere else in the world is so much money spent with such poor results.” The lead of a Washington Post story about healthcare pretty much sums it up. Getting bureaucrats, doctors, hospital administrators, pharmaceutical companies, and the American public (remember them?) to agree on how to fix things is the problem. Healthcare is sorta …
Message to Congress: COBRA Bites
I am a statistic, one of the millions of Americans laid off in early 2009. And thus, my family is currently insured through COBRA, the federal program that guarantees continued health coverage for people who have left full-time jobs. The acronym stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, but that’s just gobbledy gook. …
Without a Magazine, We Wouldn’t Have Healthcare Reform?
There’s much hubbub of late about how—or if—Congress will transform healthcare. The one reason even cynical me thinks things actually will change (slowly, incrementally) is that the situation is finally hitting us where it hurts: our wallets. Everyone agrees that healthcare spending is mismanaged and out of control. And apparently, …
When Bosses Make Tough Decisions–and Get Egged
So you’re an exec who shoots to stardom in a time of crisis and are subsequently given the top job and a mandate to remake your organization. You do so–and that’s when the trouble starts. TIME senior writer Christine Gorman writes this week about Julie Gerberding, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Read it, even …