Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Over the past two decades, the share of total Social Security spending accounted for by Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) has increased from 10 percent in the 1970s to 17 percent today. In 2005, cash payment to DI beneficiaries topped $85 billion. Authors David Autor and Mark Duggan try to explain this phenomenon in their…
In recent years, the federal government has attempted to increase access to government provided health insurance. Between 1984 and 2004, the percentage of non-elderly individual with government provided health insurance rose from 13.5% to 17.5%. Over the same time period, however, the percentage of American without health insurance also rose from 13.7% to 17.8%. In…
Robert Laszewski is the president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates. According to their website, the company is: “A policy and market place consulting firm specializing in assisting its clients through the significant health policy and market change afoot. Clients include health insurance companies, casualty insurance companies, HMOs, Blue Cross organizations, hospitals, and physician groups.”…
How much money do health economists make? Using a 2005 survey of about 1500 members of the International Health Economics Association (iHEA), Cawley and Morrisey (2007) attempt to answer this question in a paper release this month in the Journal of Health Economics. For academic careers, the study finds the following mean earnings figures: …
Yesterday, the president of the Dominican Republic Leonel Fernández announced that the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement between the DR and the U.S. will now take effect as of March 1st, 2007 (see RDnoticias.com). Is this a good thing for the DR and the U.S.? A recent Wall Street Journal article (“One Year After CAFTA“) claimed…
Child mortality from unintentional injury or accident has been dropping over the last thirty years. Among children under 5, accident rates resulting in death have fallen from 44 deaths per 100,000 population in 1960 to 18.6 deaths per 100,000 in 1990. For children aged six to twelve years old, the analogous fall is from 19.6…
The Century Foundation has a very interesting debate on health care reform (transcript). Below I have cited some of the more interesting points. ERISA. Jacob Hacker, professor of political science at Yale, claims that states attempts at health care reform may be limited by the Employees Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974. According to…
Cavalcade of Risk #20 is posted at Renthusiast.
While I was in New York I saw the Bodies exhibition. The exhibition gives a complete tour of the human anatomy using real human specimens. While most information provided in the exhibit could be found in an anatomy textbook, it is very revealing to see how the body operates first-hand. The exhibit not only looks…
The Eastern Economic Association (EEA) Conference I attended last weekend was a great experience. Economists from institutions across the nation attended and I was able to interact with a number of prominent economists. Below I will summarize a few of more interesting papers which I personally saw presented at the conference. To view an abstract…