American presidents have been trying to reform our health care system since at least the Nixon era, but with only limited success. Past reform efforts have failed for many reasons. For starters, the U.S. health care system is complex, with the medical industry making up almost 1/6 of our economy. But perhaps the biggest obstacle…
To find out the answer to this question–ok, a partial answer–listen to my appearance on the NPR show The Takeaway. CLICK HERE.
With jobs disappearing faster than a major league fastball, the public is understandably irate at the damage that greed has wrought upon our economy. Financiers destroy their companies, and our retirement portfolios, and then complain when their bonuses are less than 7 figures. The greedy behavior in recent headlines has not been limited to Wall…
Paying Doctors Less Is the Key to Better Coverage Conservatives propose to control healthcare costs by bringing the discipline of the free market to bear upon the healthcare system. Some progressive groups advocate controlling costs with a more interventionist plan. But neither approach, as far as I have seen, adequately confronts one of the biggest…
Despite Barack Obama’s recent surge in the polls, much could change between now and election day. While it looks like this election will be decided by the economy, unexpected events could dramatically change the campaign narrative. Terrorists could conduct an attack inside the US. Obama, despite his two years of steady poise, could say something…
Seven days into the patient’s hospital stay, his doctors realized they had fought a losing battle. The patient, an overweight smoker with a touch of diabetes, had come to the emergency department with shortness of breath. After a series of tests in the emergency room, he was given a dose of antibiotics for possible pneumonia…