Why people hate health reform

Here is a link to an Op-Ed I wrote with two colleagues at Duke, in which we provide a novel explanation for why so many Americans hate Obamacare.

Here is a link to an Op-Ed I wrote with two colleagues at Duke, in which we provide a novel explanation for why so many Americans hate Obamacare.
It is always important to remember that healthcare and health insurance are two very different things, and neither of them is a guarantee of good health. Therefore, when people talk about Obamacare providing people with medical care, we have to remember that it primarily provides people with health care insurance. And as I have written about previously, insurance coverage…
In a very influential 2009 New Yorker essay, Atul Gawande described why health care spending is rampant in McAllen, Texas, an example of the regional variations in healthcare utilization that policy experts at Dartmouth have been studying for years. Indeed, this research has shown much higher spending in places like McAllen, compared to cities like Salem,…
The research team hunted for healthcare prices online at 60 US hospitals. Then they had “secret shoppers” call the hospitals to get prices. Two chances to get information, in other words; two opportunities to find out what things cost. And what did the study show? Read more here
A recent survey described in the April issue of Health Affairs reveals widespread disenchantment with the US healthcare system, as compared to a number of other developed countries. Keep these results in mind the next time you hear someone raving about how the US healthcare system is the best one in the world. (Click here…
It is pothole season in Michigan, with roads crumbling under the pressure of winter cold. Then again, with the condition of our state’s dismal economy, pothole season is becoming a year-round phenomenon here in the Great Lake State. Michigan’s government can no longer afford to fix roads like it used to, and the same goes…
Catholic Charities describes itself as a “social justice movement,” one that sees its mission as providing “service to people in need” and giving aid to local agencies “in their efforts to reduce poverty.” Given the role of healthcare expenses in pushing people into poverty, then, you would think Roman Catholic leaders would be big fans…