Today's Opinions: Government power grab on health; A doctor's interface with computers; A focus on wellness

With Health-Care Reform, It's Nag, Nag, Nag The Washington Post
Following the passage of Democratic health-care reform legislation, President Obama assured the country that it was a 'middle-of-the-road, centrist approach' instead of an intrusive, government power grab. But the government seems incapable of resisting the nannying impulse that undermines this claim (Michael Gerson, 4/23).

Doctor And Patient: An Unforeseen Complication Of Electronic Medical Records The New York Times
For every one of us who is using, struggling with or considering adopting an electronic records system, one thing has become increasingly clear: just because EMR improves information sharing and retrieval, it doesn't necessarily follow that our communication with patients and colleagues will also be better (Pauline W. Chen, 4/22).

Prevention Is Key To Solving Health Care Crisis The Houston Chronicle
One thing is clear to me as the leader of a Houston nonprofit with a mission aimed at helping companies, small businesses and other institutions reduce their health care costs and keep their employees healthy: In order to lower the cost of health care and meaningfully affect the overall health of the American people, our public health strategy must increasingly focus on wellness (Jonathan H. Lack, 4/22).

Good For Hospitals, Good For Vermont Burlington Free Press
Bending Vermont's health care cost curve is a shared responsibility by all who deliver, use and pay for health care. We will all get to the finish line on reform a lot faster, though, if the fiscal policies appropriately feed the strategies aimed to create a high-quality health care system, affordable and accessible to all (M. Beatrice Grause, 4/23).

Feds Must Watch For Unhealthy Insurance Moves The San Francisco Chronicle
Hold onto your health plan. In an effort to get ahead of the new restrictions and regulations of health care reform, insurers are taking steps to increase their profits now (4/23).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.