Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Although at first glance, the answer would be ‘yes’, the answer is not so straight-forward. Consider the case of the recent H7N9 influenza outbreak in China. Although the media gave some coverage to this issue, the risk of a pandemic was not emphasized. The reason may be Bayesian updating. Previous influenza threats in recent years…
New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg enacted a law that would limit New York City resident’s ability to purchase certain drinks. No, not alcohol. Soda. NPR reports that the “ban would have limited the size of sugary drinks at restaurants, theaters and food carts to 16 ounces.” Small businesses did not like the idea because large sugary…
What role do health economists at the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) play and how do they conduct their cost effectiveness analyses for new treatments? I answer this question today based on NICE’s own documents. According to their guidelines manual, the role of the health economist in clinical guideline development is to:…
It turns out that capitalism was not the cause of Russia’s current (largely alcohol-related) mortality crisis. From an NBER working paper by Bhattacharya, Gathmann, and Miller (2012): Political and economic transition is often blamed for Russia’s 40% surge in deaths between 1990 and 1994. Highlighting that increases in mortality occurred primarily among alcohol-related causes and…
Incarcerated individuals are more likely to have the hepatitis C virus (HCV) than those who live in the community. The high prevalence of HCV infection in the prison population is largely due tot he fact that prisoners hare more likely to have a history of intravenous drug use. “A history of intravenous drug use is…
…unless you call from a land line. If you call from your cell phone, you may be in for a busy signal or wait times of 20 minutes or more. Why is this? Emergency Management explains: In California, all cellular 911 calls were initially routed to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), on the theory that…
Drug-resistant gonorrhea has been reported in 17 European countries and could soon arrive in the U.S. Will Pharma develop new drugs to fight this more robust version of the disease? The answer may be no. Companies have been reluctant to invest in developing new antibiotics because they are used sparingly, and often held in reserve…
Access to care for rural Americans can be difficult, even for individuals covered by Medicaid. The New York Times examines whether Iran can serve as a model to serve rural Americans, such as those located in the Mississippi delta. The Iranians built “health houses” to minister to 1,500 people who lived within at most an…
A survey by the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation revealed the following regarding Americans opinions on HIV and AIDS: 45 percent say they would be “very comfortable” in having their child having an HIV+ teacher, up from 36 percent in 2011. 79 percent say that everyone with HIV in the U.S. should get treatment…
The global burden of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is distressing. “[A]n estimated 130–170 million persons (2%–3% of the world’s population) are living with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection [1]. This infection, particularly in its chronic form, is associated with sizable morbidity and mortality. More than 350 000 deaths are attributed to HCV infection each…