Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Central Planning, Health Care on Dec 8th, 2015
We already know that the United States is among the most “socialist” (not the right use of the word) health care “systems” in the world – with nearly 90% out of every medical dollar that is spent being spent by someone other than the customers. I never bothered to do these calculations, but here is a chart […]
Posted in Competition, Corporatism, Disingenuous, Health Care on Dec 3rd, 2015
Is it a widely held view that “other countries’” medical systems are superior to the United States? Is it a widely held view that “other countries” get better medical outcomes for lower costs than in the United States? Then, riddle me this: why is it so impossibly difficult for a foreign trained doctor to come […]
Posted in Central Planning, Economic Illiteracy, Health Care on Nov 1st, 2015
Take each though below to its most positive and its most negative possible outcome. I want health care for all. Therefore, the county government of Monroe County, NY is going to train, educate, license, etc. all doctors, nurses, cleaning staff, etc. The county government of Monroe County, NY is going to arrange all of the rules […]
Posted in Health Care on Oct 6th, 2015
Is it possible that health care patients choose care in the same way they choose cars? Healthcare Exceptionalism? Performance and Allocation in the U.S. Healthcare Sector by Amitabh Chandra, Amy Finkelstein, Adam Sacarny, Chad Syverson NBER Working Paper #21603 The conventional wisdom in health economics is that idiosyncratic features of the healthcare sector leave little scope for […]
Posted in Corporatism, Government Gone Wild, Health Care on Aug 24th, 2015
One of the things that “anti-ACA” analysts worried about with the new law was that it would open the door to regulating all manner of areas of our lives that not even the staunchest supporters of the law ever intended or ever imagined it would lead to. Here is an episode confirming these concerns. After decades […]
Posted in Health Care on Apr 16th, 2015
A former student of mine (who is currently a med student) forwards me the following with his insight, “hopefully our new doctors will also be familiar with science once they are fluent in class consciousness” To that end, a large new section—one quarter of the test—covers psychology, sociology and the biological foundations of behavior. Official […]
Posted in Health Care, Price System on Mar 25th, 2015
Does paying for even some medical care out of pocket reduce costs over time? Here is the latest: using data from 13 million individuals in 54 large US firms to estimate the effects of a firm offering CDHPs on health care spending up to three years post offer. … We find that spending is reduced […]
Posted in Health Care, Voluntary Society, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Sep 25th, 2014
No new ground broken here, but I just read a news story about the rise of people who refuse to have vaccines administered to their children. Strangely, the families that appear to be most likely to refuse vaccines are the most educated among us, and not like you might suspect, the least educated. The vaccine […]
Posted in Economics Problems, Health Care, Unintended Consequences on Sep 22nd, 2014
In my inbox this morning is this working paper: Should Hospitals Keep Their Patients Longer? The Role ofInpatient and Outpatient Care in Reducing Readmissionsby Ann P. Bartel, Carri W. Chan, Song-Hee (Hailey) Kim – #20499 (HC HE PE)Twenty percent of Medicare patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, resulting in substantial costs […]
Posted in Health Care on Jul 20th, 2014
It is moderately puzzling to see people celebrate the success of Obamacare based on how many uninsured it turns into being insured. That, to me, seems pretty easy to do, even for what many believe is a dysfunctional government – particularly when there is a law that makes it illegal NOT to have insurance. But […]
