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Great Consumer Reports Article on Our Research
ByadminDonna Rosato, an excellent journalist at CR, as the cool kids call it, just published an excellent article highlighting some of our research on money talk in the doctor’s office. Here is a teaser. A growing body of research has found that as people pay more out of pocket for their healthcare, they’re likely to put off treatment instead of seeking a…
The Hazards of High Deductibles
ByadminHere is a nice, cautionary article from Consumer Reports reporter, Donna Rosato, on the downsides of high deductible health insurance plans: High deductible health insurance plans were supposed to help consumers cut healthcare costs. The idea was that since consumers would have to pay a large chunk of their own money for medical care before…
Medicare Is Reducing the Cost of Knee Replacements (Here's How That Could Backfire)
ByadminKnee replacements are booming. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of knee replacement procedures in the United States doubled, to more than one million. Experts think the figure might rise sixfold more in the next couple decades, because of our aging population. Since many people receiving knee replacements are elderly, Medicare picks up most of…
The U.S. Healthcare System Is Back to Its High-Spending Ways
ByadminShutterstock For a few years, U.S. healthcare spending seemed to be under control, rising no faster than the economy as a whole. The proportion of our GDP spent on healthcare was flatter than a Nebraska cornfield in November. Here’s how much we spent on healthcare, relative to the economy as a whole, between 2009 and…
What Behavioral Economics Get Wrong About Improving Healthcare
ByadminIt is notoriously difficult to change physician behavior. When it’s discovered that primary care physicians are, say, prescribing too few cholesterol pills or too many antibiotics, it will not be easy to change those behaviors. Physicians are strong-willed people, with lots of things competing for their attention and with many well ingrained habits. That’s why…
Great Writing through Analogy
ByadminEvery once in a while on my blog, I like to highlight great writing. In part, I guess, because my own writing has yet to rise to such a level. Anyways, here’s Robert Ballard in the Smithsonian trying to help readers understand why the topography of the ocean simply can’t be appreciated if you rely…

