Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
An October 6th Wall Street Journal article asks “If we must ration vaccines for a flu, who gets the shots?” Currently, the U.S. gives children, the elderly, and the sick priority in obtaining flu shots. Journalist Sharon Begley of the WSJ wonders if this is the best policy: “In May, scientists at the National Institutes of…
On Wednesday, Marketplace on NPR ran a story on how providing eye care to individuals in the developing world can not only improve their well-being, but increase economic productivity. Fortunately, low cost solutions are available. To view the story, click here. Some excerpts are below: “153 million people around the world live with poor vision…
This morning it was announced that Edmund Phelps was the 2006 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Mr. Phelps is a macro-economist best known for his work explaining the trade-off between unemployment and inflation in the economy. A biography of Mr. Phelps can be found on the Columbia University website.
In Sunday’s L.A. Times I found two articles regarding population growth. The first (“America at 300 million“) notes that although the U.S. is nearing 300 million people, there is plenty of space available for these newcomers. Although the birth rate is still not at replacement, the recent increase in immigration has allowed the U.S. to…
Today the Princeton Review named my alma matter (University of Pennsylvania) as the university with the best business school (the Wharton School). While I don’t believe the rankings accurately reflect school quality, its always nice to be number one. ‘Hurrah, Hurrah, Pennsylvania…Hurrah for the red and the blue!’
What do you need to do to win a Nobel Prize these days? Simple, just figure out a way to shut down individual genes in the body. This is what Andrew Fire and Craig Mello–the 2006 Nobel Prize winners in Medicine–achieved in order to merit the award. Their technique holds the possibility of new therapies for…
The Health Care Renewal blog cites an editorial in the British Medical Journal describing how the spirit of medical professionalism is dying due to top-down administrative decision making. “And although medicine has embraced the need for evidence based medicine, policy making remains largely an evidence-free zone. [Richard Lehman wrote,] ‘the personal responsibility of our professional…
The New York Times (“In India, Water Crisis Means Foul Sludge“) gives a detailed look into the disastrous state of New Delhi’s water supply.
Some interesting bits I found on the Health Wonk blog-o-sphere: Joe Paduda looks at why Kaiser Permanente is starting to offer PPOs and high deductible plans. Fard Johnmar at Envisioning 2.0 discusses Walmart’s plan to offer generic drugs for as low as $4. A Wall Street Journal/Harris poll shows that the vast majority of healthcare…
The 2006-2007 Global Competitiveness Report has been released by World Economic Forum. The rankings can be found at the World Economic Forum website (PDF). “The rankings are drawn from a combination of publicly available hard data and the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, together…