Obama v. Nixon

In 2009, President Barack Obama addressed the nation calling for healthcare reform.  In 1974, President Richard Nixon also addressed the nation calling for healthcare reform.  Let us analyze Nixon’s speech and compare it to Obama’s. “Today the need [for reform] is even more pressing because of the higher costs of medical care.”  Obama echoes this…

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We don’t need a public option. We do need a public option. The anti-savings account: 0.2% interest rate, 0.3% expense ratio. The deadliest child killer is… Is capitation the way to go? Look to California’s experience.

Why is healthcare so expensive?

Why is medical care so expensive? It depends on who you ask. Victor Fuchs (1996) polled 46 health economists, 44 economic theorists and 42 practicing physicians. Fuchs asked if they agreed with the following statement: “The primary reason for the increase in the health sector’s share of GDP over the past 30 years is technological…

Obama’s Health Care Speech Critique

Today, President Obama made a speech calling for healthcare reform. To sum up, Obama is proposing: creating a health insurance exchange, an individual mandate, guaranteed renewability of health insurance, subsidies for individuals and small businesses to purchase insurance, and public option/co-op. Below are some highlights from the speech [with my comments in brackets]. So tonight,…

Medicare Reimbursement Information VI

The Medicare Reimbursement series continues with today’s focus on outpatient care. The sources of this information is MedPAC’s Payment Basics. Outpatient Hospital Services Outpatient hospital procedures range from injections to complex surgical procedures that require anesthesia. Outpatient hospital care accounted for $19 billion of total Medicare spending in 2007. Currently, outpatient hospital reimbursement is based…