Links

Some links for you to enjoy over the weekend. The public plan will cost the same as private plans. How to get your economics article published?  Make it complicated. How much does your healthcare reform bill cost? Opening the Health Insurance Exchange to all. Measuring (healthcare) consumer confidence. President Obama promised to make it illegal for…

Obama v. Nixon

In 2009, President Barack Obama addressed the nation calling for healthcare reform.  In 1974, President Richard Nixon also addressed the nation calling for healthcare reform.  Let us analyze Nixon’s speech and compare it to Obama’s. “Today the need [for reform] is even more pressing because of the higher costs of medical care.”  Obama echoes this…

Links

We don’t need a public option. We do need a public option. The anti-savings account: 0.2% interest rate, 0.3% expense ratio. The deadliest child killer is… Is capitation the way to go? Look to California’s experience.

Obama’s Health Care Speech Critique

Today, President Obama made a speech calling for healthcare reform. To sum up, Obama is proposing: creating a health insurance exchange, an individual mandate, guaranteed renewability of health insurance, subsidies for individuals and small businesses to purchase insurance, and public option/co-op. Below are some highlights from the speech [with my comments in brackets]. So tonight,…

The Death Panel

Is Obamacare going down in flames? Is Sarah Palin’s “Death Panel” comment the culprit? Is the government going to start killing its own citizens? In Sarah Palin’s Facebook post, she explains her concerns by quoting from section 1223 of HR 3200: Section 1233 authorizes advanced care planning consultations for senior citizens on Medicare every five…

Assorted Links

Waiting: 70 days to see an ob-gyn in Massachusetts. Why Obama’s health reform efforts will succeed where the Clinton’s failed. Government auto inspections do not affect car accident rates. Wellcare’s Bill: $80 million for Medicare/Medicaid fraud, $10 million for SEC violations. McKinsey: Regulation drives complexity. Using prices to ration water. On the table: Removing the tax exemption on…

“Say it ain’t so, Ben”

Bank of America shareholders approved the purchase of Merrill Lynch on December 5, 2008.   Last year in the fourth quarter,  Merrill Lynch lost $15.84 billion.   Bank of America President Ken Lewis knew that Merrill was at risk of huge 4th quarter losses. Ken Lewis did not tell shareholders about Merrill’s impending large losses.  Why? Under oath,…