In advance of Obama’s address to Congress and the nation, see the New York Times’ take on what to look for in the speech and Sheryl Gay Stolberg’s news analysis. And here’s NPR’s overview.

Rachel Zimmerman

While the excellent Martha Bebinger is on leave, I will be managing CommonHealth, and I’m thrilled to take on the job, starting today.

The blog will continue to feature a thoughtful and diverse stable of contributors who work in all aspects of health care, from doctors and insurers to academics, consumers, lawmakers, employers and activists. As health care reform in Massachusetts continues to unfold, I’ll be expanding the list of guest contributors, so if you have strong opinions about cost, delivery, access or quality of care in this state, please contact me at zimmerman08@gmail.com. (And if your opinions include photos, charts, or documents, all the better.)

As for me, I worked as a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal for 10 years, most recently covering health and medicine out of the paper’s Boston Bureau.

I’ve also written for the New York Times, the (now-defunct) Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and the alternative paper, Willamette Week, in Portland, Oregon, among other publications. I just co-wrote a book about birth, published by Bantam/Random House, and I spent last year as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. I live in Cambridge with my husband and two daughters.

Again, please feel free to send along ideas, comments or critiques. It should be a fascinating year!

Cheers,
Rachel Zimmerman

Thanks to all, Martha Bebinger

Martha Bebinger

Martha Bebinger

JudyAnn Bigby, MD, Secretary for Health and Human Services for Governor Deval Patrick and Chair of the Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost

Bob Carey, dir., Employers Action Coalition on Health Care (EACH)

Andrew Dreyfus, VP, Health Care Services, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Elmer Freeman, director of the Center for Community Health, Education, Research and Service at Northeastern University and co-chairman of the Disparities Action Network

Hurmon Hamilton, senior pastor, Roxbury Presbyterian Church and president of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization

Health Care for All staff

Roberta Herman, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Interim COO, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

David Himmelstein, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts

Leslie Kirwan, Administration and Finance Secretary for Governor Deval Patrick and chairwoman of the board, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority

Richard Lord, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts and board member, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority

Massachusetts Medical Society (doctors from various specialties will participate)

Dolores Mitchell, director, Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission and board member, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority

Richard Moore, Senate chairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing

Lynn Nicholas, president and CEO, Massachusetts Hospital Association

James Roosevelt, president and CEO of Tufts Health Plan

Eric Schultz, president and CEO, Fallon Community Health Plan

Robert Seifert, director, Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute

Harriett Stanley, House chair, Joint Committee on Health Care Financing

David Torchiana, Massachusetts General Physicians Organization

Nancy Turnbull, assistant dean, Harvard School of Public Health

Bill Walczak, CEO, Codman Square Health Center

Anya Rader Wallack, dir., Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute

Celia Wcislo, Assistant Division Director of 1199, SEIU, in Massachusetts and board member, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority

Michael Widmer, president, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation