Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
In President Bush’s 2008 State of the Union address, health care issues were mentioned, but did not play a prominent role. Whitehouse.gov has the full State of the Union transcript. State of the Union: Summary of Healthcare Issues Addressed Bush reiterated his earlier reform proposals to end the tax deductibility of employer-provided health insurance and…
Reuters reports (“Too few…“) on the problem that U.S. adults not receiving necessary vaccines. “Only 2 percent of U.S. adults last year got a shot that can protect them from painful bouts of shingles, health officials said on Wednesday in a study that shows what they call unacceptably low rates of adult vaccination against a…
Want some more information on the presidential candidates views on healthcare reform? The Healthcare 08 website has an interesting “PoliGraph” showing where the candidates stand. Candidates are characterized according how government driven and how important health care issues are. The graphs include issues such as: overall health care reform, drug prices, the uninsured, and stem…
Richard Posner and Gary Becker, two preeminent economists, discuss some of the presidential candidate’s plans for healthcare reform. Posner laments that the U.S. spends 16% of GDP on healthcare, but only has 37th best healthcare system according to the World Health Organization. What is to be done? Most candidates promise to reduce costs and increase…
A Healthy Blog has an interesting post (“Stories of Harm“) giving patient video testimonies regarding their experience with medical errors and how it has impacted their life. The Consumer Health Quality Council is a group of Massachusetts patients who have been harmed by medical errors and they are calling for reform within the health care…
Many of the Democratic candidates support having employers provide insurance for their employees with the threat of a fine or tax if an employer decides not to comply. This of course will increase the cost of an employee for firms. If employees truly value the health insurance, then the cost of insurance can be passed…
Barack Obama wins Iowa and is predicted to win New Hampshire according to Gallup polls. Then Hillary Clinton wins New Hampshire. Why were Gallup poll predictions wrong? The Statistical Modeling blog tries to make sense of this in their post “What was going on with the New Hampshire polls?” The post gives three reasons why…
So you’re a Republican and you don’t know who to vote for. Which of the Republican candidates has the best plan for health care reform? This is what I will discuss today. If you are a Democrat, please read my “Guide to the Democratic Candidates” yesterday. Similarities Almost all the Republican candidate are in agreement…
So you’re a Democrat and you don’t know who to vote for. Which of the Democratic candidates has the best plan for health care reform? This is what I will discuss today. If you are a Republican, please read my “Guide to the Republican Candidates” tomorrow. Similarities All of the Democratic candidates support the following…
The USA Today reports on your government in action (“Subsidies…“): Flying round-trip from Lewistown, Mont., to Billings — also a two-hour-drive — costs $88 as well on Big Sky. The government cost: $1,343 per passenger. Just two people a day took the Lewistown-to-Billings flights on average in 2006, according to the DOT.