The Pope rejects condoms

Pope Benedict XVI has just proven that he is not only mean but just plain crazy. During a visit to Africa last week, the pope said the use of condoms increased HIV infection rates. As someone who worked in U.S. AIDS services for ten years, we have known since the early 1980s that consistent [...]

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Help paying for COBRA health benefits

Department of Labor releases model notices on COBRA premium subsidies
As part of the stimulus package recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama, you may be eligible for tremendous assistance in paying for your COBRA benefits if you are out of work (here is an explanation of COBRA benefits). Losing a [...]

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White House begins a move on healthcare reform

Today is an important day. Today, the White House convened its first meeting on healthcare reform. I spent most of the day listening to the meeting on C-SPAN. Sixteen years ago, when I was executive director of the National Association of People of AIDS, I was involved in the Clinton healthcare reform [...]

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How about an ethic of service? A different take on physician student debt

A March 11, 2008 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education notes that the American Association of Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association have written a joint letter asking Congress to reverse the Department of Education’s decision to end a program that has allowed new physician graduates to lower student loans and defer interest [...]

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The skinny on healthcare . . .

. . . and healthcare reform.  Ramesh Ponnuro of Time magazine has written an easy-to-understand summary of where we are on healthcare and some potential options to cover more of the uninsured.  You can read the article here. 

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