Heather Wilhelm

Greece’s health care system says amputation cheaper than shoes

10/11/2010
by Heather Wilhelm Ouch!  Here’s the latest news from Greece: This Saturday, one of Greece’s most respected newspapers, To Vima, reported that the nation’s largest government health insurance provider would no longer pay for special footwear for diabetes patients.  Amputation is cheaper, says the Benefits Division of the state insurance provider… Greece’s National Healthcare System was created in...

The Squeeze Begins

09/21/2010
by Heather Wilhelm The great national health-care squeeze, as today’s Washington Post reports, has begun–and Americans can thank the new health care law: Some of the country’s most prominent health insurance companies have decided to stop offering new child-only plans, rather than comply with rules in the new health-care law that will require such plans to start...

State’s bond rating drives up borrowing costs

08/30/2010
by Heather Wilhelm It sure is getting expensive to be broke these days, and Illinois is learning the hard way, according to the Civic Federation’s latest study.  The Chicago Sun-Times reports: The state’s miserable bond rating has driven up borrowing costs for state government by more than $500 million since last year, a government watchdog...

The Unemployment Chart You’ll Ever See?

07/21/2010
by Heather Wilhelm  Over at The Atlantic’s blog, Derek Thompson posts “The Scariest Unemployment Graphic I’ve Seen Yet”: “The median duration of unemployment is higher today than any time in the last 50 years,” he writes. “That’s an understatement. It is more than twice as high today than any time in the last 50 years.” So what does...

Rasmussen: 48% See Government as Threat

06/24/2010
by Heather Wilhelm “Nearly half of American adults see the government today as a threat to individual rights rather than a protector of those rights,” reports a new Rasmussen poll released today.  Fifteen percent are undecided.  You can read the poll results, along with Rasmussen’s analysis, here.

Tax Credits in the Slammer

06/23/2010
by Heather Wilhelm When people say they’re going to “the Big House,” they usually mean a football stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan…or a jail. But prisoners across the country recently gave the latter interpretation of the phrase a whole new meaning, as discovered this week.  “Nearly 1,300 prison inmates wrongly received more than $9 million in...

Canadian Premier Heads to US for Heart Surgery

01/31/2010
An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.

Bring in the Cameras

01/06/2010
As the national health care debate moves behind closed doors, CSPAN tries to let the sunshine in...and Obama's campaign promises come back to haunt him.