Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
My friend and General Electric financial analyst Matt Janner is currently working in Dubai. He has sent me some wonderful articles about the emirate and one of its newest investments: “Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC).” Here is a brief summary of what I have gleaned from these articles. Dubai is one of the fastest growing cities…
In England, all residents receive free medical care from the National Health Service (NHS), which is run by the Department of Health. Many critics of nationalized health care would say that publicly provided medical care is often of inferior quality to that of medical care provided in the private market. A recent Times (UK) article…
Tuberculosis is the world’s deadliest curable, infectious disease. According to the World Health Organization TB report, there were 8.9 million new TB cases in 2003. Over 1.7 million people die of the ailment, 90 percent of them in developing countries. Africa has the highest incidence of TB with 2.8 million cases in 2003, but even…
If your life has been in a rut lately and you wish for some inspiration in your life, I have the perfect book recommendation: Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. The book is about Paul Farmer, a world renowned infectious disease physician who has dedicated his life to improving the quality of health care in…
On February 15th, Health Care Economist reported on British Colombia‘s attempts to reforms its health care system. Now the Canadian province of Alberta is proposing its own reform as well. The CBC in “Alberta’s ‘Third Way’ could mean health-care showdown with Ottawa” reports that: Under the so-called ‘Third Way’ patients will be allowed to pay…
In 1993, Colombia enacted ‘la Ley 100’ (law 100) transformed the way in which the poor are able to access health care. Previously, the poor could go to public hospitals and receive free or inexpensive care if the hospital would accept them This was financed through higher prices for customers who were able to pay for…
The following is a timeline which summarizes the genesis and evolution of government provided health insurance in the United States. Major Foreign Events: 1883: Otto von Bismark, then Chancellor of Germany passes a compulsory health insurance bill for factory and mine workers 1911: Germany extends compulsory insurance coverage to almost all employees 1911: David Lloyd…
Fabio Bertranou (1999) in his article in Health Policy gives a concise summary of attempted health insurance reforms in Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s. He looks at three cases: Chile’s reform in the 1980s and Argentina’s and Colombia’s reforms in the 1990s. He cites three major issues each nation faces: Does open enrollment…
Thursday’s edition of the New York Times contained an article (“British Clinic is Allowed to Deny Medicine“) describing how a British court ruled that local health authorities could deny coverage of a breast cancer medicine since it was not yet approved. The drug in question is Herceptin. “Herceptin, made by Roche, is currently licensed for…
While most Americans envy the Canadian single payer system, Canadians may be looking south for inspiration to reform their health care system. Today’s Vancouver Sun reports that: British Columbia’s Liberal government is launching a sweeping review of medicare, promising to let citizens decide if they want a health care system that might feature even more…