I had the honor of joining 40 executive delegates for a week to observe the Irish healthcare system. While spending in the Irish healthcare system is just 7.2% of GDP, the public hospitals are filled to the gills.

Long debates in Congress over mental health parity laws position the most human of health needs up against stretched budgets and market disagreements on treatment value. At the moment, arguments center on insurers' coverage obligations, but few are addressing another debate that is certain to follow.

When the former owner of the NFL's Cleveland Browns announced he was moving the team to Baltimore in 1996, not only were Cleveland fans outraged, ironically, so were Pittsburgh Steelers fans—their biggest rivals. For the two seasons that the Browns franchise remained dark, the Steelers missed the Browns because they had enjoyed the competitive rivalry. The Browns team and its followers were the people they loved to hate.

HIPAA prohibits group plans from charging higher premiums to individuals due to health status, medical history, genetic information, claims experience, receipt of care or evidence of disability. The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration recently issued guidelines that closed off a loophole that might have allowed employers to charge less healthy workers higher deductibles.

With healthcare quality being so difficult to quantify, flawed ratings are unavoidable. Health plans, patients and governments, however, are desperate for some sort of yardstick by which to judge providers.

Emergency departments (EDs) are a critical safety net for all Americans, and that net is becoming evermore threadbare. It's downright scary when you look closely at the reality of EDs today.

Actor George Clooney was hospitalized recently after a minor motorcycle accident. He cracked a rib, but that wasn't the worst of it. Star-struck hospital employees who weren't involved in his care accessed his medical record, no doubt hoping to find some celebrity gossip.

Every time I look through the sales fliers in the Sunday newspaper, I'm amazed by all the stuff we can buy. Toys, such as satellite radios and video game systems, are just the beginning. Today, you can even buy high-end cleaning products for your bath or shower at more than 10 times the price of a simple sponge and some cleanser.

Coffee shops, restaurants and grocery stores have started getting serious about employees washing their hands to prevent the spread of germs. If the guy who steams my cafe latte remembers to scrub his hands for 30 seconds before getting behind the coffee counter, then why aren't more healthcare providers remembering to do it?