Posted in Communism/Socialism, bioehtics, health care, insurance, law, markets, politics, research discussion, wealth, tagged American Academy of Family Physicians, Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, doctor, economics, health insurance, hospital, Katherine Atkinson, legislation, Medicaid, medical school, New York Times, Patricia Sereno, politics, primary care physician, universal health care on April 10, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Actually, my title is a bit misleading. Not everyone has coverage…many people have not complied with the new law mandating coverage, and simply pay the fines. So the state still has many uninsured people, and now it has a rising shortage of primary care physicians.
Those of us who have taken a basic economics course saw [...]
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Posted in employee benefits, health care, insurance, markets, psychology, research discussion, tagged America, Brian Klepper, Case Shiller Home Prices Indices, consumer driven health care, consumerism, doctor, Doctorpricing.com, double entendre, drugs.com, economics, economy, ego, HDHP, health care, healthcar, hospital, hsa, nurse, physician, prosperity, Richmond, S&P, SMA Informatics, The Doctor Weighs In, Warren Brennan, webmd.com on March 23, 2008 | 4 Comments »
People like to scoff at the idea of blending health care with shopping. Uttering the very words “consumer driven health care” sends shivers down the spines of “purists” – your local medical specialist, whose life-saving work necessitates the confidence and ego driving the indignancy of the thought. Does consumerism cheapen health care? Well, yes…if you [...]
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Posted in health care, insurance, markets, politics, tagged Barack Obama, cnn, cnn.com, consumer driven health care, Doctorpricing.com, economics, Fortune Magazine, free market, health care, health insurance, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, medical care, political viability, politics, presidential election, Shawn Tully on March 16, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Shawn Tully, editor-at-large of Fortune Magazine, wrote a fantastic summary of each of the presidential hopefuls’ health care plans on CNN Money. He reaches the same conclusions I have have as of late on this blog – we must get health care costs under control.
I haven’t spent a lot of time on the candidates’ plans [...]
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Posted in Communism/Socialism, bioehtics, health care, insurance, markets, medicare, misinformation/propaganda, politics, psychology, research discussion, wealth, tagged Andrew Sullivan, bureaucrat, cancer, chemotherapy, chronic disease, conservative, consumer, coronary artery bypass, doctor, Doctorpricing.com, Doublethink, economics, Ezra Klein, freedom, government, health care, Healthcare Economist, heart attack, heart disease, incentives, Jason Shafrin, Kant, liberal, libertarian, life and death, medical care, medicare, moral agency, patient, Peter Suderman, philosophy, preventative care, price transparency, The American Prospect, The Daily Dish, trauma, treatment, United States of America on February 20, 2008 | 9 Comments »
Journalists Ezra Klein and Peter Suderman debate the government’s role in the future of U.S. Health Care (thank you Healthcare Economist). Whose argument carries more weight?
Klein’s main argument is decidedly anti-libertarian, which makes perfect sense because I don’t think he is a Libertarian. Klein’s conclusion is that it will take substantial government resources, research and [...]
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Posted in Communism/Socialism, health care, insurance, politics, psychology, tagged Africa, aged dependency ratio, America Alone, Australia, Canada, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, economics, Europe, France, GDP, Gerald Ford, government, Greece, health care, HIV, hospital, Islam, Islamic, liabilities, Mark Steyn, Muslim, national defense, pension, SARS, Secular Humanism, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Skynet, Socialism, Terminator, Toronto, tsunami, Uncle Sam, universal health care on January 20, 2008 | 6 Comments »
In Mark Steyn’s book “America Alone,” an argument is made that big government makes its citizenry dependent and eventually helpless, in a manner of speaking. Gerald Ford had a famous quote which speaks to this: “a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.” Many [...]
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Posted in Communism/Socialism, bioehtics, entrepreneurialism, health care, law, markets, medicare, politics, research discussion, wealth, tagged African, American, anti-lock brakes, Ashok Roy, automotive, BBC, Benz, budget, cardiology, competition, congress, consumer, contraception, costs, cruise control, death sentence, doctor, economics, electronic stability control, ESC, family doctor, frontier, general practitioner, government, Harvard, health care, Heritage Foundation, HHS, hospital, infrared camera, innovation, internist, James May, Jeremy Clarkson, laboratory, lobbyist, mainstream, marketplace, medical, medicare, MedPAC, Mercedes, metaphor, moratorium, mortality, night vision, nurse, orthopedic, patient, physician, privilege, prototype, public, Regina Herzlinger, research, Richard Hammond, rural, S-Class, safety, satnav, seatbelt, sedan, specialty hospital, status-quo, study, Top Gear, unfair competition, wealth on December 26, 2007 | 1 Comment »
There’s a really cool show on BBC America called “Top Gear.” It’s a witty, irreverent, brutally honest car show hosted by three dry-witted Brits: Jeremy Clarkson (blog here), Richard Hammond, and James May. Last season they road tested the new Mercedes S-Class (video clip). The S-Class is the big, expensive standard example [...]
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Posted in Communism/Socialism, bioehtics, health care, insurance, markets, misinformation/propaganda, politics, research discussion, tagged activism, blood clot, Canada, Canadian, CT, data, diagnostic, doctor, drugs, economics, embolism, famous, Frasier Institute, government, Harvard, health care, hosptial, medical, medicine, MRI, Nadeem Esmail, New England Journal of Medicine, non-partisan, patient, politics, pulmonary, rhetoric, single-payer, Socialism, Steffie Woolhandler, surgery, treatment on December 16, 2007 | 1 Comment »
In September 2003, Harvard Medical Professor Dr. Steffie Woolhandler had this to say in the New England Journal of Medicine: “A large sum might be saved in the United States if administrative costs could be trimmed by implementing a Canadian-style health care system.”
While I’m sure Dr. Woolhandler is a brilliant clinician and activist, I firmly [...]
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Posted in Communism/Socialism, bioehtics, health care, insurance, law, markets, politics, research discussion, wealth, tagged a priori, Adam Smith, American, Barack Obama, compromise, consumer directed health care, coverage, diabetes, doctor, economics, empirical, flu, forclosure, government, health care, Hillary Clinton, hospital, incentive, income tax, indemnity, insurance, medicine, pursuit of happiness, resources, reward, risk, Robin Hood, socialized medicine, sub prime on December 4, 2007 | 4 Comments »
A laissezfairehealthcare blog comment turns the raging American health care debate on its head by posing the question: what are Americans willing to do without. In a country where food, shelter and entertainment are readily accessible to an overwhelming majority of the population (relative to other countries with our size and immigration levels), most American [...]
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Posted in Communism/Socialism, bioehtics, health care, insurance, law, markets, politics, research discussion, wealth, tagged abuse, America, behavior, cancer, care, Charlie Munger, chronic disease, compensation, consumer, consumer directed, cost, Daniel Gilbert, diabetes, directed, DMV, doctor, drug, economics, editorial, Emphysema, generic, health, HMO, income, inflation, IT, Jay Parkinson, left0wing, managed care, Mark Twain, money, MRI, New York Times, nurse, NY Times, patent, patient, philosophy, poor, prescription, primary care, provider, Rand, salary, Socialism, specialist, Stumbling on Happiness, tax, transparency on November 25, 2007 | 16 Comments »
An interesting New York Times editorial sums up the key issues surrounding the soaring costs of health care in America. A number of ideas about possible causes and solutions are mentioned, and their known pros and cons discussed. The notion of consumer directed health care is mentioned, among other subjects, and some possible limitations are [...]
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Posted in Communism/Socialism, entrepreneurialism, markets, wealth, tagged business, Call of the Entrepreneur, China, Communism, Communist, Democracy, despot, documentary, economics, economy, film, free, government, Hershey, Hong Kong, Jimmy Lai, Mao Zedong, market, monopoly, Next Magazine, People's Republic, reward, risk, Socialism, Socialist on November 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
There’s a fantastic new documentary film, The Call of the Entrepreneur, which is currently touring major cities with limited special previews. The makers of the film expect it to be released (most likely in independent film houses) shortly after the tour. The film follows three entrepreneurs whose businesses range from small and rural to very [...]
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