Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Economics Problems, Health Care on Apr 17th, 2014
Here is the latest from Vox: Obamacare succeeded for one simple reason: it’s horrible to be uninsured So here we’ve come. Now the entire health care reform is a success because … people signed up for it. That’s sort of a low bar isn’t it? Well, maybe not: The health-care law beat its mark because it […]
Posted in Health Care on Nov 1st, 2013
About group coverage. Interestingly, the old George W. Bush plan would have done something to address this, at least partially, by putting the employer provided and non-employer markets on similar tax footing. But since it was GWB, the plan was simply dismissed. And Adrianna, you mustn’t forget that one cannot criticize one’s company in polite […]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Health Care, Methodology, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jul 16th, 2013
We all have some emotions tied to the good ol’ days. But that does not make for good or particularly consistent policy. Consider a reference to the good ok’ days of the environment (Ignore the actual facts). It is thought that we need to work toward a more “sustainable” future largely because in comparison with […]
Posted in Health Care, Market Failures, Politics on Jul 3rd, 2013
In this month’s edition of Popular Science in an opinion piece titled “No Brainer” we are treated to: If the government wants to fund a grand national effort, it should attack problems whose solutions are bad for business. For instance, let’s cure cancer. The biomedical industry treats cancer with drugs, surgery, and other high budget […]
Posted in Education, Health Care, Voluntary Society, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jun 17th, 2013
If you examine survey data, or just generally follow the New York Times you will find this odd, I think, contradiction. Even among advocates of single-payer (that is insurance), there is vehement support for having the right to choose one’s doctor. That indeed was a selling point of ObamaCare. However, it is highly likely that […]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Health Care on May 16th, 2013
If we are to be generous to the ideas of those who are concerned about obesity in America, you would argue that there are two reasons for the worry. First, people might reasonably be concerned about the impacts of your obesity on them. In other words, there are external costs of obesity that the obese themselves are not taking […]
Posted in Health Care, Voluntary Society, Welfare State on May 10th, 2013
Without much comment, I suggest you read the interview Wonkblog does with the patient. The entire tone, the selection of the interview candidate, the questions not asked, etc. encapsulates almost everything that can possibly be wrong with (insert noun here). If I were a betting person, I might even bet that the interview was made […]
Posted in Corporatism, Education, Health Care, Voluntary Society on May 10th, 2013
In this week’s episode of the Commons Chronicles, I bring to you … the office copy machine. I don’t make too heavy use of it, but I can assure you that when I do, I make lots of copies – mostly to print exams for my large classes. I typically need 600-1000 sheets of paper to print […]
Posted in Health Care, Politics, Taxation, Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 12th, 2013
The town and county portion of my property tax receipt came in the mail today. (This comprises about 1/3 of my total property tax bill – the government schools take the other 2/3). I found their new itemization of uses of tax funds to be interesting. Years ago I noticed that in my TOWN offices, […]
Posted in ethical foundations, Government Gone Wild, Government Thuggery, Health Care, incentives, Price Controls, Socialism, Taxation, Unintended Consequences, Voluntary Society, Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 11th, 2013
I usually hate infographics and here is another one just littered with reasons to go crazy. But focus only on the very bottom: The changes Brill suggests would allow the US to provide better care at lower costs without substituting the kind of government-provider system typical in comparison countries. Holy smokes. This is the previous […]
