Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Recently, there has been much controversy regarding whether or not the RAND Health Insurance Experiment (HIE) results are truly robust. Many blogs have been questioning the results (see here, here and here). One of the major conclusions of the HIE are that higher co-insurance rates lead to lower levels of medical utilization and lower medical…
Here is some of the latest health news concerning China: The Gates Foundation donated $50m to fight HIV in China (Houston Chronicle). Diabetes rates in China are increasing (ChinaView). China’s use of coal plants is creating pollution problems in Japan, South Korea, and even the U.S. (CNN)
Here’s some interesting reading to cure your mid-week blues: Joe Paduda in “Dumber than a box of rocks” references a FierceHealthcare article which finds that HealthNet actually paid bonuses to staff based on how many claimant policies they could terminate. This cost-saving may backfire since one patient is suing HealthNet for $6 million. The L.A.…
The Food and Drug Administration is one of the most important government agencies. The FDA has an interesting history and below I will review some important dates. 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. This law was enacted after the drug Elixer Sulfanilamide killed over 100 people. Firms were required to submit new drugs to…
Where does an aspiring health economist look for journals relevant to the interdisciplinary field of health economics? Which data sets are relevant for the empirical word a health economist would conduct? If you’re looking for answers to these questions, check out the Resources page of my personal website. The Resources page has a list of…
Arnold Kling of the EconLog site has some commentary on P4P when discussing Tim Hartford’s latest book (“The Logic of Life“). I have a very different approach to compensation. I think that the key is to change compensation schemes frequently. The reason is that any scheme can be gamed, and the longer you wait to…
This is the question asked to undergraduate economics students a public health students by Atheendar of ‘Dar he Blogs. One third of the economics student said yes, but all the MPH students said no. Atheender concludes the following: I think there are two things to take from this. First, there is a great deal of…
I recently finished reading the fascinating book The Places in Between by Rory Stewart (see also NY Times review). The book describes the authors journey 2002 journal between Herat and Kabul in the middle of winter just after 9-11. Mr. Stewart gives a rarely seen glimpse of life for rural Afghanis and how they view…
Yes, its true. The WTO has adopted a blue toilet seat for its logo. This is not surprising, however: the World Toilet Organization–you didn’t think I was talking about the World Trade Organization, did you?–is dedicated to improving sanitation issues around the world. While the blue toilet seat logo, may be amusing, the WTO’s goal…
Looks like the convenience clinic trend is coming to my neck of the woods in Southern California. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune (“Are retail clinics a healthy choice?“) six Minute Clinics are opening in San Diego county with ten more on the way before year’s end. These clinics likely will lower the cost of…