Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Which treatment is the best? This is a seemingly simple question, but there are many answers. Some people would say whatever the clinical evidence says. Others would contend that patient preferences are paramount and patient preferences should rule the day. In our current world of health care largely paid for by insurance, how should the preferences…
Who are the leaders in the field of health economics? Below I list the top 10 health economics scholars, institutions and journals as ranked by a recent JHE article by Adam Wagstaff and Anthony J. Culyer. A more complete list is also available here. Top Health Economists David M. Cutler Jonathan Gruber Frank A. Sloan…
“The weak relationship between aggregate spending and health outcomes is in stark contrast to evidence showing pronounced medical benefits for use of specific medical devices, procedures, or pharmaceuticals. For example, advances in the treatment of heart attacks reduced the one-year mortality rate for these patients by 5 percentage points between 1984 and 1991 (Cutler et…
If economists decided to re-write the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt love Competition” may make the list. However, does competition always improve quality? Even in the case of health care? A paper by Scanlon et al. (2008) “…found no evidence of a strong and consistent relationship between HMO competition (measured either by the HHI or the…
A few papers have found that mortality rises after the death of the spouse. Some researchers have inferred that this is due to a causal effect of this emotionally traumatic event. Further, married individuals generally live longer, so the loss of this “marriage protection” could be the cause of increased mortality. On the other hand,…
Does taking time off of work help to improve maternal health after pregnancy? A recent NBER working paper by Pinka Chatterji and Sara Markowitz attempts to answer this question. The abstract of the paper is below: In the United States, almost a third of new mothers who worked during pregnancy return to work within three…
Economists believe that the value of life increases as life expectancy increases. While this is generally true, a paper by Jena, Mulligan, Philipson, and Eric Sun (2008) shows that while people value living for a long time, the value this longer life expectancy more when their friends and family also live longer. In the authors…
Primary care physicians can be compensated in a number of ways. The most popular are capitation, fee-for-service, salary, or some mixture of the three. But how does the physician compensation method affect care levels? This is the question Gosden et al. (2000) try to answer in their Cochrane review. The authors search the literature for…
“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men. Gang aft agley” – Robert Burns The only certainty in life is uncertainty. Individuals make plans for their future without knowing how long they will live in reality. Retirement planning, for instance, is very difficult due to uncertain life expectancy. Would you be willing to trade some of…
Should employers provide health insurance to their employees? There are many reasons why they should. One is that employees are attracted to firms that offer health insurance, especially since their are tax and cost advantages to group health insurance purchased through an employer. Another reason is that if a worker becomes sick, that reduces productivity.…