Paul Levy at Beth Israel (the Avis to Partners Healthcare's Hertz) says what we have here is a failure to compete due to a sort of health-care duopoly - a market with one dominant provider and one dominant insurer.

It's not so much that Mike Capuano changed his mind on health care and that abortion ban as that he was blasting Coakley for taking the same position he adopted that has some riled and puzzled.

WBUR reports some local hospitals say the number of ER visits by people with flu-like symptoms has plateaued.

WBUR reports that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is seeing an increase in prescriptions for antibiotics to treat flu symptoms, which the insurer calls "a little concerning" since antibiotics don't work against the flu.

The Los Angeles Times reports on a health-care "reform" pushed by John Kerry (and, to be fair, by the late Ted Kennedy) that would require insurers to pay for Christian Science counseling sessions as a health-care expense.

Via Deb Geisler, who requests our new senior senator read up on the First Amendment's separation clause.

Lynch was one of 64 Democrats in the House tonight to vote for the so-called Stupak amendment to bar even private insurers from paying for abortions if they take any money at all from the government.

Representatives Tsongas, Markey, Delahunt, Capuano, Tierney, Olver, Frank and McGovern all voted no. Rep. Neal voted along with Lynch.

Complete roll call.

UPDATE: Lynch then joined his Mass. colleagues to vote for the president's health-care package.

A couple of clinics on Saturday and Monday. My Dorchester has the details. Because of vaccine shortages, only people in high-risk groups (which the site lists) will get shots.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Paul Levy is running an online auction to help the Bowdoin Street Health Center in Dorchester raise the money it needs to buy an ultrasound machine, so that pregnant women could get examined in their neighborhood, instead of several miles away at Beth Israel.

Among the items up for grabs: An overnight stay at the Four Seasons, a baseball signed by Luis Tiant, restaurant gift certificates and a two-year family membership in the Show of the Month Club. You can bid through 9 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9.

Levy writes he hopes to make a monthly event out of the auctions, each benefiting a different BI-related effort.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CEO Paul Levy writes Caritas Christi is "out of line" by attempting to take possession of several thousand medical records belonging to two doctors who left the hospital chain for rival Mt. Auburn Hospital, as reported yesterday by the Globe:

... This is out and out cruelty to patients by attempting to restrict their doctors' access to them and their medical records. I can't recall any other hospital system behaving in this manner when a doctor chooses to join another network, no matter how competitive the environment.

The Globe reports that Ropes & Gray bought up enough Tamiflu to hand out to all its employees for them and their families.

Or as Above the Law puts it, who knew lawyers in expensive suits were as at high risk as young children, pregnant women and people with immune disorders?

... The old, the young, and the weak become seriously ill from swine flu. Hypochondriacs take swine flu medication. Swine flu gets stronger. Humane reason = Epic Fail. ...