Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Health Care Thoughts: Welcome to The Matrix

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt    from a commentary I am writing…… Health Care Thoughts: Welcome to The Matrix Big Data, Data Mining, Data Analytics Health care providers create and store massive amounts of data generated by clinical and business functions. This hot new term for this mass of data is “big data.” Until recently, the […]

Health Care Thoughts: This is a little strange

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: This is a little strange California’s health care exchange is often cited as being as the forefront of complying with the letter and spirit of Obamacare. So it seems a little strange that California has exempted most exchange information from the public records laws, including information about […]

In the Short Run, We Are All Dead. At Least According to That New Oregon Medicaid Study.

Well, we AB types–readers and writers, alike–are familiar with John Maynard Keynes’s famous line that “In the long run, we are all dead.”  By which he either meant that economists, if they are to be useful, must try to predict and recommend short-term government policies that avoid or help end current, severe economic downturns, rather than […]

Is Margaret Thatcher Responsible for Silicon Valley, As David Brooks Claimed Recently?

[T]he myth of the welfare state fostering a lazy citizenry just doesn’t hold water. A group of small nations (combined population: about 25 million) that came up with Linux, Skype, Ikea, H&M, and Lego — to say nothing of well-written television shows and mystery novels, innovative designers and brilliant architects from Alvar Aalto to Bjarke […]

Medicaid Austin Frakt, Aaron Carroll and Kevin Drum are Good for the USA

by Robert Waldmann An important study of the effect of Medicaid on health was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.  The study was based on a genuine experiment where some people were given Medicaid and other people weren’t based on a lottery.  Unfortunately, the results were communicated with a NEJM  press release and […]

The Age Rating Game

Maggie Mahar Health Care Blog discusses some of the rhetoric employed in media on how to pay for health insurance. In other words, when costs are distributed over a large group, older adults save more than younger adults lose. Still, many believe that older Boomers can and should pick up the higher tab for their […]

Geithner’s Baa Humbug to Jobs and Labor

Dan here…Taking a look back to 2009: Geithner’s Baa Humbug to Jobs and Labor 12/25/2009 (h/t Run75441) “Ebenezer: Since you ask me what I wish sir, that is my answer. I help to support the establishments I have named; those who are badly off must go there.” Daniel Gross at Slate interviews Tim Geithner here: […]

Smoking is All About Poverty

by run75411 Smoking is All About Poverty I raised the issue of why the elderly pay more than smokers for healthcare insurance since growing old is a natural occurrence and smoking and its associated disorders is self-inflicted. I raised it after STR said smokers are being robbed and I pointed out the elderly non-smokers and […]

The future of YOUR health insurance premiums

by Maggie Mahar run75441: Maggie Mahar writes on future insurance premium increases something consistently arises in the debate on the PPACA. The complete post can be found at healthinsurance.org The future of YOUR health insurance premiums Today, many Americans are asking, “Will my premiums go up in 2014?” There is no simple answer. According to […]