Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
There have been some interesting economics blog postings in recent weeks about the theory of the second best. Dani Rodrik of Harvard argues (“Why do economists disagree“) that economists can generally be viewed as first-best economists and second best economists. For instance, first-best economists would claim that all healthcare should be privately financed, with a…
Here are two interesting articles from the blog-o-sphere: Cat Bonds The NY Times has an interesting article about catastrophic risk (“In Nature’s Casino“). The article talks about how individuals such as John Seo and Karen Clark have helped to create a market for cat bonds. The problem with catastrophes is that insurance companies have not…
A recent press release from the California Speaks organization shows that California residents want change. Eighty two percent of the 3,500 person conversation help August 11th believed that the health care system required change. How should the system be changed? Well, that’s another story. Only 16% of individuals support a single payer system under any…
While almost all economists will argue that a single payer health care system is inefficient, many economists support the idea on redistributive ground. Taxing the young and healthy–either directly through taxes or by forcing them to buy non-actuarially fair insurance–and giving the money to pay for the medical care for the old and sick seems…
Its not a great time to be a political dissident in Russia. Larisa Arap, who openly supported Gary Kasparov’s opposition group the United Civil Front, has just emerged from a 46-day imprisonment in two Russian psychiatric hospitals. The Independent reports (“Putin critic…“) that Mrs. Arap was forcibly interned with numerous unknown pills forced down her…
The latest edition of the Health Wonk Review has been posted at the Medical Humanities Blog.
Physician scorecards have been a highly touted means to improve healthcare quality. One example is NY state’s coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) Surgery Reporting System. One side effect of scorecards is that surgeons may choose to operate on healthier patients in order to maximize their scorecard grade. In fact, over 60 percent of NY cardiothoracic…
Can video games be used to learn how to best plan for infectious disease pandemics? Time reports on how a World of Warcraft pandemic can be used by epidemiologists: [The] papers document the path of an unexpectedly virulent virtual disease called ‘Corrupted Blood,’ which swept through World of Warcraft’s online characters starting in September 2005.…
“…purchasers typically reimburse health care providers on the basis of the volume and intensity of the services provided, rather than the quality or cost-effectiveness of those services. The result is a financing system akin to paying academics on the basis of the volume and intensity of footnotes.” This website has blogged extensively on pay-for-performance schemes…
The International Herald Tribune reports that U.S. pain medicine use has increased 88%. Is that a good thing? Many people will rush to claim that these figures show how pain medication is being abused in the United States (see Brett Favre or Rush Limbaugh). Others will claim that big Pharma’s advertising is leading people to…