Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Europe’s drug shortages may get worse Hospital revenues “tumbling”? Getting the right people to see your research. Private equity healthcare deals in 2022. Are patient-reported outcomes included in oncology drug labels? Council On Health Care Spending And Value’s 2023 report
Medicare Part D has had a very odd benefit structure. First, you have a deductible with no coverage; then you get some coverage, then there is a coverage gap or “donut hole” with no coverage and finally there is very generous coverage in the ‘catastrophic phase’. This structure was espeically problematic for patients with high…
When valuing new health technologies, we mostly focus on how these technologies improve patient health. However, there may be additional impacts. For instance, the treatment may improve your health such that you are able to return to work or become more productivity at work. How can we measure this additional value? Two common approaches are…
As a health economist who likes to think about the world in a quantitative manner, I do whatever I can to measure quality in a numeric manner. Thus, if I was visiting a primary care physician (PCP) and needed some specialist care, I would want the PCP to refer me to the specialist with the…
Using 2001-2016 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys (MEPS) data from working adults, a paper by Cawley et al. (2021) find that: Adults with obesity in the United States compared with those with normal weight experienced higher annual medical care costs by $2,505 or 100%, with costs increasing significantly with class of obesity, from 68.4% for class…
How many people have problems paying medical bills? Human Freedom Index. ACA and health insurance coverage for same-sex couples. Does access to free medication reduce health system costs? Carve-in vs. carve-out of behavioral health Part D smoothing.
According to a 2022 CBO report, healthcare spending per person is much higher for commercially insured individuals than those insured by Medicare and this difference is largely drive by price differentials. Why are the outstanding research questions related to the prices commercial insurers pay providers? That is the topic of a recent Health Affairs article…
That is what various government bodies are considering. First lets turn to Medicaid via a report by Tyrus Jackson in JD Supra, The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) voted on January 27 to recommend that Congress grant states the ability to limit Medicaid coverage for drugs and biologicals approved under the FDA’s…
The answer is ‘yes’ according to a paper by French (2023):. The authors use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) as well as high-frequency returns data for the S&P 500. The study finds that: …a one standard deviation increase in cumulative [negative wealth] shocks over two years increases the probability of elevated blood…
ChatGPT app is the fastest growing ever. Flint housing market after water supply contamination. Au Revoir, Public Health Emergency. State-owned enterprises and bank lending in China. Medicaid benefits and the homestead exemption.