Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
“Authors of economics books, essays, articles, and political platforms demand interventionist measures before they are taken, but once they have been imposed no one likes them. Then everyone—usually even the authorities responsible for them—call them insufficient and unsatisfactory. Generally the demand then arises for the replacement of unsatisfactory interventions by other, more suitable measures. And…
Conventional wisdom holds that the U.S. has a free market for health insurance and Europe relies on a state-run, socialist health care system. The U.S. ‘free market’ for health insurance, however, is in fact strictly regulated. States exert significant authority over what benefits plans can offer and what premiums they charge. Consider the following evidence…
The Healthcare Economist predicts a religious revival in 2014. Let me be more specific, in January 2014. How do I know this? Am I a religious man? Has God spoken to me? Let’s just say I have a certain insight. In 2014, the individual mandate goes into effect. All individuals must buy health insurance or…
Planet Money has a very interesting article about software patents and companies who exist for the sole purpose of buying these assets and suing other companies. Computer programmers themselves don’t even like their own patents. In previous posts, I’ve made arguments for limiting patents for pharmaceuticals and the cases for software patents is even stronger.…
To what standard should the FDA hold new drugs? The FDA has a number of choices. Drugs companies could be required to prove that the drugs they make: Do no harm. Are more effective than placebos Are more effective than existing drugs Are more cost-effective than existing drugs, or Are both more effective and more…
A lot has changed since I last visited Egypt in early January and since the protests in Midan Tahrir in mid-January. According to Marketplace, one thing that hasn’t changed is the incredible amount of bureaucracy which still exists in the country. So here’s the crux, according to Ragui Assaad, a fellow at the Economic Research…
Many states have certificate of need (CON) laws which restrict providers supply for certain procedures. A paper presented by Vivan Ho at AcademyHealth claimed that there were 37 states with a CON law for at least one procedure. Following up earlier research which found that CON laws decreased quality, Dr. Ho found that dropping CON…
California think they have found the answer. “The bill in question is AB 52, introduced by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles). It would prevent health insurance premium increases from going into effect without the prior approval of the commissioner of insurance or the director of the Department of Managed Health Care, who share jurisdiction over…
Is health reform coming to the UK? Since the middle of the decade, the NHS has used a tariff system which pays a fixed price per procedure. Now, however, the Financial Times, reports that the UK plans for “public and private hospitals to compete on price for the treatment of NHS patients.” The reform calls…
How occupational licensing affects the cost of goods and services: “After Hurricane Katrina leveled the pine forest that had been their sole source of income, Benedictine monks in Louisiana wanted to support themselves by making and selling coffins. Unfortunately for the monks, in Louisiana only a licensed undertaker can sell coffins. It’s the law, enforced…