Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Medicaid policies vary from state-to-state. With the advent of new, GLP-1 medications (and others) to treat obesity and overweight, there are potentially significant health benefits to be gained. However, are State Medicaid Agencies actually covering these medications? This is the question asked by Liu et al. (2024). They use data from public state Medicaid formulary…
Cross sectional analysis finds that individuals with lower income are more likely to be overweight or obese. Does this imply that increased income causes weight loss? A paper by Au and Johnston (2015) find the opposite result. In this paper, we use nationally representative panel data and exogenous wealth shocks (primarily inheritances and lottery wins)…
This is the title of an Atlantic article that finds the that although more woman than men are obese, this gap narrows for high-income women. One reason for this difference could be that women are more penalized than men for being fat. In fact, the Atlantic finds that the annual cost of obesity is $4,879…
Michelle Obama’s is deeply involved in her recently involved in fight against childhood obesity. Eating healthy and exercising more is a laudable goal. But do we want the government operatives taking the role of a Biggest Loser Drill Sergent? Could government weight monitoring become a reality? Maybe. In an interview with Marv Albert, President Barack…
Most women gain weight after marriage. However, this may not just be do to having a child. The New York Times reports on a recent study by Annette Dobson in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. They find that “[a]fter adjusting for other variables, the 10-year weight gain for an average 140-pound woman was 20…
Obesity is growing problem in the United States. As more people become increasingly obese, mortality rates will increase (or at least decrease less slowly than would have otherwise been the case). However, increased mortality may be a blessing for Uncle Sam. As more elderly die earlier from obesity-related diseases, the government will be able to…
In my own research, I have examined the relationship to marriage and weight gain. A study by Jay Bhattacharya, Kate Bundorf, Noemi Pace and Neeraj Sood found that health insurance may actually increase body mass. According to the authors: “We find weak evidence that more generous insurance coverage increases body mass index. We find…
According to Economix, countries whose people spend more time eating have a lower obesity rates.
Rural children are more likely to be overweight than urban children, despite the fact that children living in urban areas engage in less physical activity.
Bob Laszewski has a great posts on 5 false “solutions” to reduce health care costs. These are: EMR: Making electronic medical records universal will greatly improve health care quality, but the impact on cost will be minor. Better quality care can reduce iatrogenic injuries and reduce cost, but the cost reduction–if any–will likely be small…