In First for Sitting President, Obama Publishes a Scholarly Article

[Recursion]

http://fortune.com/2016/07/11/obama-jama/

An author named “Barack Obama, JD” published an article on Monday in a scholarly journal. No prizes for guessing the topic: It’s an assessment of the Affordable Care Act as well as policy recommendations for the next president to improve the U.S. health care system.

The article, titled “United States Health Care Reform: Progress to Date and Next Steps,” was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The piece, which contains 68 footnotes to academic journals and government publications, claims to present evidence showing that the number of Americans without health insurance has dropped dramatically, and resulted in lower hospital readmission rates. Obama also used the article to recommend the introduction of a “public option” plan in parts of the U.S. and for the federal government to push down drug prices

While publication in JAMA is widely regarded as an impressive accomplishment, some may wish to take Obama’s contribution with a grain of salt since it was not peer-reviewed and appears with a title of “special contribution.” Nonetheless, according to JAMA editor-in-chief Howard Bauchner, the article went through a two months of fact-checking and multiple edits and revisions.

[Warpy]

1. Meanwhile, insurance companies are exiting the exchanges

using "higher per patient costs" as an excuse, leaving the very people who need insurance the most out in the cold again. The pressure to avoid getting help when you're sick is as intense as it ever was.

A second major insurer in NM quit today. A single payer state system has been on the lege agenda for over 25 years. Eventually, those old boys are going to have to pass it.

[joshcryer]

2. Thank god for the mandate.

Just more pressure for a public option.

[benld74]

3. Meanwhile My Pet Goat gathers dust along its unopened pages and bindings

while the owner tosses back shots of water used to clean paint brushes and cashes 200K per month checks courtesy of the government that was looted. nt