Maggie Mahar, Healthcare Fellow at The Century Foundation and author of the path-breaking book Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much, writes one of the most up-to-the-minute, authoritative blogs on healthcare reform on the web, the Health Beat blog. Read her most recent posts by clicking below:

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• Dear Readers,
  See Naomi’s note below. I urge you to visit her new blog. I also am no longer working at The Century Foundation. Please note: This website no longer accepts Comments . It may appear that you comment has been accepted,...
  
  
• "Premium Support" Is Just Another Way To Privatize Medicare
  Note: This post comes from my new blog reforminghealth.org I have left The Century Foundation and can be reached at nfreund2@gmail.com Out of the rubble of the failed budget deficit negotiations, it seems a new movement is afoot to transform...
  
  
• You Heard It Here First: Medicare Spending Slows
  Sunday, a New York Times editorial confirmed that "Since January 2010 the growth in Medicare spending has actually slowed to an annual rate of about 4 percent, less than half the annual rate for the previous decade. No one is...
  
  
• HealthBeat Readers
  For some reason, HealthBeat is not recording comments. If you would like to reach me directly, e-mail me at Maggiemahar@yahoo.com Thanks, Maggie
  
  
• The State of Heatlhcare Reform--and the Challenges
  Health Beat readers may be interested in listening to the speech that Dartmouth’s Elliott Fisher delivered at the Lundberg Institute’s inaugural event at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 25. Fisher does an excellent job of summing up where...
  
  
• Are Doctors Prescribing Too Many Pain Medications?
  In October, I was asked to speak at a Mayday Foundation meeting about blogging and using social media to spread a message. The Mayday Foundation is a global organization dedicated to pain relief. At the meeting I met Bob Twillman,...
  
  
• On Tour Now: The Balancing Act at the Center of Reform
  After writing about “Essential Health Benefits” for HealthBeat, I wrote a shorter post for Time.com (the online version of Time magazine), updating what I had written here. This month, the public will have a chance to weigh in how they...
  
  
• There Is No "Silver Lining" in Repealing Insurance Mandate
  Earlier this week, as the Supreme Court continued to mull over which of the four legal challenges to the health reform law they will choose to tackle, I found out that, in fact, there could be a “silver lining” to...
  
  
• In CLASS Act Demise, Wake-Up Call For Action in Long-Term Care Crisis
  If the demise of CLASS has any greater meaning, perhaps it will serve as a wake-up call for Americans that we need an enduring solution to the long-term care problem. The CLASS legislation, part of the Affordable Care Act, would...
  
  
• Breast Cancer-- Living with the Disease, Part 2
  “The Best Care America Has To Offer” Below, Amy Berman describes her recent journey through our health care system as “eye-opening.” In part 1 of this post, she explained why she decided on palliative treatment for breast cancer, rejecting aggressive...