Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Frank Lichtenberg has two working papers Lichtenberg (#14008) and Lichtenberg and Duflos (#14009), which show that pharmaceuticals have worked to increase life expectancy. The first paper examines new cardiovascular drugs and finds that new cardiovascular drugs decreased mortality and hospitalizations in OECD countries. If drugs vintage had not increased from 1995-2004: 1) hospitalization and mortality…
The latest edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance is up at The Budgeting Babe. Included is my post on the Buxfer software.
Most people believe that vaccines are for kids. The CDC and public health departments have done a good job of keeping vaccination rates high for children. With the advent of new vaccines for adults, the key now is to increase vaccination rates for these older groups. The Wall Street Journal (“Get your shots“) details a…
The New York Times (“The evidence gap“) has a great article about the high-priced cancer drug Avastin. Avastin treats patients with advanced forms of cancer by cutting of blood supply to the cancerous tumors. The cost-effectiveness of Avastin has been cast in doubt. “Roy Vagelos, a former chief executive of Merck who is considered an…
“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men. Gang aft agley” – Robert Burns The only certainty in life is uncertainty. Individuals make plans for their future without knowing how long they will live in reality. Retirement planning, for instance, is very difficult due to uncertain life expectancy. Would you be willing to trade some of…
As I noted in an earlier post, choosing a Medicare part D plan is difficult. However, there are resources to help people choose a Medicare Part D plan based on which prescriptions they are taking and where they live. Medicare has its own Personalized Plan Search. The private sector also has come up with user-friendly…
Most people do not know the answer to this question. Of course, individuals like plans with lower health insurance premiums, but patient deductibles, copayment and coinsurance rates also will determine how much the consumer will end up paying for a given insurance plan. Even if costs are similar across insurance plans, benefits packages may not…
Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School has launched HealthMap, an automated data-gathering system used to track disease. HealthMap aims to organize and disseminate this online information using feeds from various public health organizations. This is similar to the concept I first saw at the Who Is Sick website, but the HealthMap seems to be…
At least this is what David Williams of the Health Business Blog has experienced in paying for his firm’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan. “This year’s increase is 13.3 percent, on top of last year’s 26.3 percent increase and an 11 percent increase the year before. Thanks to the magic of compounding it means the premium…
There is an interesting article a few weeks back in the Wall Street Journal (“Opting Out“) which describes the plight of Amish and Old Order Mennonites who refuse to buy health insurance. Further, since these groups also refuse to participate in Medicaid government assistance will not bail them out either. Nevertheless, these societies do have…