Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Paid family leave (PFL) provide paid time off for workers who care for a newborn (parental leave) or care for a sick or temporarily disabled family member (caregiving leave). The US is one of the few countries that does not offer PFL, but a number of State have decided to adopt their own policy. California…
Will telehealth widen or reduce health disparities? Telehealth may make it easier for individuals who lack transportation to get access to medical care; on the other hand, those without high-speed internet or good cell phone connections could be disadvantaged. In a recent report, NCQA examined the future of telehealth and examined how to make sure…
How is opioid use trending over time? Among individuals who filed for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), a paper by Maestas et al. (2022) finds that: …the prevalence of opioid use among SSDI applicants declined from 33 percent in 2013 to 24 percent in 2018. By contrast, the share of applicants reporting musculoskeletal impairments, which…
The policy rationale for disability insurance is sensible. If you are disabled (either in the short-run or long-run) and unable to work, government support is highly beneficial in reducing inequality. Whereas other policies to redistribute income (e.g., welfare, unemployment insurance) may reduce inequality, they also may have the unintended consequences of reducing incentives to work.…
Previously, I wrote about how the US healthcare system imposes $90 billion of costs on physicians related to drug utilization management. According to a study by Kyle and Frakt (2021), the U.S. healthcare system also imposes a significant burden on patients as well. The authors use the 2019 Health Reform Monitoring Survey (HRMS) to answer…
If you are hurt and can’t work to make money, what do you do? In most countries, disabled individuals are eligible for disability insurance. However, the rate of individuals who claim disability insurance varies greatly across countries. Is this largely due to differences in country population characteristics or disability policy generosity? This is the question…
As reported in a Academy of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy newsletter, titled “Mathematical Model Aims to Improve Cost-Effectiveness of Rheumatology Treatment“, the Innovation and Value Initiative’s is highlighted from the American College of Rheumatology conference. Here is an excerpt: Biological therapies for moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis have significantly improved treatment and prognosis. However,…
Prospect theory states that individuals view transactions relative to a fixed reference point. Individuals are risk averse for gains (i.e., they would prefer $10 for sure over a 50/50 of winning $0 or $20) but risk loving over losses (i.e., they would prefer a 50/50 ‘lottery’ of losing $0 or $20 over a sure loss of $10.…
How does one measure disability? This is a difficult question. Many health economists face an even more difficult question: how does one measured disability in claims? A paper by Ben-Shalom and Stapleton attempts to answer this question using six definitions: Chronic Illness and Disability Payment System (CDPS). Developed by Rick Kronick et al. 2000 (one…
This month is Alzheimer’s awareness month. To draw attention to the burden of irreversible, progressive brain disorder, today the Healthcare Economist is providing some facts about the disease, courtesy of the CDC, the Mayo Clinic, NIH Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. It’s the most common cause of dementia — a…