Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Cornelius Suijk is a hero. His family was one of the many Dutch Gentiles who secretly housed Jews during World War II. After the war Mr. Suijk met with Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father who lived in Switzerland. Mr. Frank and Mr. Suijk became friends and eventually Mr. Suijk was charged with heading the Anne…
H&R Block, one of the largest tax services businesses in the United States, has incorrectly filed its taxes in 2003 and 2004. The tax error understated H&R Block’s tax liability by $32 million. Oh the irony!!! Check out the complete article in BusinessWeek (“H&R Block falls on 3Q results, tax issue“).
On The Health Care Blog, Brian Klepper of the Center for Practical Health Reform weighs in on his opinion on HDHP (“Can Consumerism Save Healthcare?“). A few of his major points: Imperfect Information still a problem: HDHP’s force consumers to absorb a portion of the health care cost and thus these individuals should shop for…
On February 15th, Health Care Economist reported on British Colombia‘s attempts to reforms its health care system. Now the Canadian province of Alberta is proposing its own reform as well. The CBC in “Alberta’s ‘Third Way’ could mean health-care showdown with Ottawa” reports that: Under the so-called ‘Third Way’ patients will be allowed to pay…
Medpage Today recently released some statistics regarding the prevalence of smoking cessation among Germans with serious health diseases (“Smokers Can’t Say No in the Face of Serious Circulatory Disease“). “…the investigators found that among those with a single disorder, the proportion of current smokers among ever-smokers ranged from 29% for myocardial infarction to 44.4% for…
Sunday’s San Diego Union Tribune (“Doctors object to ultimatum on health care: Sharp wants every senior on one plan“) had an interesting article on Sharp’s decision to issue its physicians an ultimatum: either provides services exclusively for our patients or find work elsewhere. Let us look at this from a variety of perspectives. Sharp: Sharp…
This Sunday, the San Diego Union Tribune (“A wealth of talent“) wrote a complimentary article regarding the ascendancy of UCSD’s Economics department into the elite strata of economics departments. Last year, U.S. News and World Report ranked the UCSD economics department #10 in the nation. As a graduate student in UCSD’s economics department, my ‘unbiased’ opinion is…
Paul Merriman one of the few investment advisors I respect. His blog is full of useful information. His advice is simple: Invest in Index Funds. For an average investor, attempting to ‘beat the market’ or is a wasteful endeavor. Index funds diversify risk by allowing investors to hold a large variety of stocks while minimizing…
In 1993, Colombia enacted ‘la Ley 100’ (law 100) transformed the way in which the poor are able to access health care. Previously, the poor could go to public hospitals and receive free or inexpensive care if the hospital would accept them This was financed through higher prices for customers who were able to pay for…
The following is a timeline which summarizes the genesis and evolution of government provided health insurance in the United States. Major Foreign Events: 1883: Otto von Bismark, then Chancellor of Germany passes a compulsory health insurance bill for factory and mine workers 1911: Germany extends compulsory insurance coverage to almost all employees 1911: David Lloyd…