Lost in all the confusion about Obamacare is the fact that the law relies on more than just the individual mandate to encourage people to buy health insurance. It also makes health insurance more affordable, especially for people at or below 400% of the federal poverty limit by subsidizing insurance for those folks. So do…
Recently, Congressman Paul Ryan put together another budget balancing proposal. It has received a lot of attention in the news, even though it is as likely to be enacted as is the Senate Democrat alternative– in other words, it won’t be enacted. Nevertheless, for those of you interested in healthcare and healthcare policy, here’s a…
According to a recent Forbes post: “A huge pay raise promised under the Affordable Care Act for primary care doctors who treat the nation’s poor covered by Medicaid health insurance is nearly three months behind schedule and may take another three months before it kicks in.” I suggest you look at the entire essay, because…
Although blocked for now, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Soda Ban has many wondering what tactics could actually help consumers kick certain bad habits? Threats? Pricing? Bans? Graphic images? What actually works and what role should the government play? I recently had the pleasure of participating in a discussion addressing all these questions. Listen to…
When Johnson was pushing congress to establish the nation’s first real health care funding, many legislators, especially conservative southern Democrats, balked at the cost. Johnson was well aware that Medicare would be costly. But he thought health insurance was too important, in reducing poverty among elderly people, to let costs get in the way. He…
In a New England Journal of Medicine article from November 18, 2010, Zhang and colleagues map out rates of what are arguably inappropriate prescriptions. For instance this picture shows rates of high risk drugs in Medicare recipients, drugs like Valium (and its cousins) which are known to cause falls and other complications: This picture shows that WHERE…
Recently, I posted in Forbes about our need to rethink primary care, to avoid a physician shortage. The debate continues, as seen in this interesting post from Dan Diamond. (Click here to view comments)
In a recent Atlantic post, James Hamblin reports on the increasing frequency with which surgeons perform hysterectomies with the assistance of robots. Here is a picture from that post: To be clear: robotic surgery doesn’t mean a robot performs the operation. Instead, the surgeon uses a laparoscope, usually, and the surgeon controls the tools at…
In the previous two posts, I show that out of pocket costs are rising given the increasing prevalence of high deductible insurance plans. That means that even though you have insurance, you are going to be paying for your own care until you reach the deductible. Here is a picture showing that out-of-pocket costs are…
In my previous post, I showed a powerful picture (from the Kaiser Family Foundation) of the growth in high deductible insurance plans. Here is another picture from that same report, showing that the high end of these high ends is getting really high. (Click here to view comments)