Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
As I have done in previous years, below I review and comment on all of the President’s statements related to health care that come from his state of the union address. Many of us have campaigned on the same core promises, to defend American jobs and demand fair trade for American workers, to rebuild and…
In single payer systems, the problem of adverse selection in health insurance is solved because the single payer must cover all people. Because the single payer cannot avoid covering any individual, there is no strategic gaming on coverage decisions. There may, however, be strategic decisions made on the treatment of patients. Consider the case of…
Although the high cost of pharmaceuticals is often in the news, these costs are offset by improved health benefits. However, it may not be clear the extent to which new pharmaceutical products lead to improved health at the national level. A paper by Lichtenberg (2018) aims to examine this question looking at the introduction of…
In one of his first acts as California Governor, Gavin Newson has proposed a way to reduce drug price: let California use its size to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical firms. As the N.Y. Times reports: [O]n Monday, Mr. Newsom signed an executive order proposing a plan that would allow California to directly negotiate with drug manufacturers. The…
An interesting article in the N.Y. Times “Upshot” section by Austin Frakt argues that federal efforts to nudge people towards healthier behaviors may be doomed to fail. A $100 billion dollar health care package…encourages exercise by treating gym memberships as tax-deductible medical expenses…[a]nd it would permit the use of flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts…
In recent years, a number of states have legalized medical marijuana. While marijuana may not be good for you, can it be used as a substitute for more dangerous substances such as prescription opioids and heroin? To use an analogy, perhaps marijuana is to vaping ans opioids/heroin are to smoking. In fact, a recent paper…
Much of the discussions of the pros and cons of single payer systems are ideological. Single payer advocates will say they are fair, potentially can leverage economies of scale, and more equitable. Single payer opponents will argue that they are inefficient, and restrict choice. An interesting paper from Tomoki Fuji (2018), shows that the answer…
A recent report from Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) found that for about 30 physician administered drugs, prices are 8 times as high as those charged in other developed countries. To address the high prices, President Trump unveiled a three-part plan to reduce drug prices. Under the “international pricing index” proposal, U.S. drug…
Darius Lakdawalla has an very interesting review article in the Journal of Economic Literature on the Economics of the pharmacuetical industry. Do read the whole thing, but below I have listed some highlights. A model of firm R&D decisions Lakdawalla uses a simple model based on Nordhaus (1969) to derive some important implications about pharmaceutical…
The title of this post comes from a speech from Columbia health policy and management professor Lawrence Brown. For years, Presidents and other politicians have noted that rising health care costs will lead to the collapse of the system. Michael Millenson highlights this state of unending crisis in his Health Affairs blog post titled “Half A…