I am not a big fan of most of alternative medicine, simply because it’s unproven. I have always thought that anyone who wants sick persons’ money ought to have objective evidence behind their product. And by “objective evidence”, I mean the kind you read about in articles published in, say, the Journal of the American [...]
Mon, March 23 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
Via Krugman via NOW! Blog, from the WSJ: The drug and medical-device industries are mobilizing to gut a provision in the stimulus bill that would spend $1.1 billion on research comparing medical treatments, portraying it as the first step to government rationing. [...]The administration hopes to expand coverage while limiting use of treatments that don’t [...]
Wed, February 11 2009 » Uncategorized » 3 Comments
I missed a story last month that I think is worth coming back to: from the NY Times, Doctors Awash in Debt. Check out the graph in particular. So new physicians have a lot of debt. This is not news to the medical blogosphere: you don’t have to read many doc blogs before you come [...]
Tue, January 13 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
This post by Matt Yglesias almost slipped past me, but it’s worth reading. Matt points to some research from the Commonwealth Fund and the Lewin Group that suggests the Stark bill for health care reform is best in terms of increasing coverage and reducing costs. Here’s Matt: But what’s incredibly frustrating is that a lot [...]
Mon, January 12 2009 » Uncategorized » 2 Comments
Kevin, responding to Ezra, argues that nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants aren’t willing to take on a bigger share of primary care: Already, 42 percent of mid-level providers practice in specialty fields, and I fully expect this number to rise if the primary care environment continues to deteriorate, especially when contrasted to the salary and [...]
Thu, December 18 2008 » Uncategorized » 10 Comments
Dave Racer has a novel argument about what’s wrong with our health care system: it’s the immigrants. U.S. residents have come from every nation, and our newest residents sometimes bring with them decades of health-related problems. Racial, cultural, hereditary and disease histories have a great impact on U.S. societal outcomes; this is far different from [...]
Tue, December 16 2008 » Uncategorized » No Comments
(This one’s been rattling around in my drafts – I figure I might as well publish it.) This summer the Washington Post ran an article by Kendra Marr that described health care as “the beating heart of America’s economy”. Marr cites projections that health care will account for fully half of U.S. Gross Domestic Product [...]
Mon, December 15 2008 » Uncategorized » 3 Comments
I hate to be Captain Obvious, but these guys are asking a question that has an easy answer: to keep sick people from getting it. Okay, so maybe that’s not the real reason, but consider this: what other sorting mechanism does our system have? If you can work a decent job, you get quality health [...]
Fri, December 12 2008 » Uncategorized » No Comments
Charlie Baker has a post up at THCB about “cost shifting”, the new horror in health care. What’s that? You’ve never heard of “cost shift”? Then has Charlie got a study for you… …[The study] indicates the cost shift is worth a $51 billion differential in hospital payments, and a $40 billion differential in payments [...]
Thu, December 11 2008 » Uncategorized » 1 Comment
Matt Yglesias goes to Finland, and so his blog is now all things Finnish. Incidentally, I went to Finland on business several years ago – in March. It’s a cold, cold place, but beautiful enough from the indoors looking out. I also discovered smoked reindeer, which is quite tasty. I’m not so much concerned with [...]
Wed, December 10 2008 » Uncategorized » No Comments
A novel crime against decency by Duncan Cross
