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

Argument: more health insurance does not lower cost

This morning on Washington Journal was a discussion with Marogt Sanger-Katz of the NYT Upshot blog.    She wrote a post: No, Giving More People Health Insurance Doesn’t Save Money.  It’s a controversial title for sure, but there is some interesting points that I know are often mentioned on a few email lists I’m on for […]

Raising the Price of Pizza 10 to 14 cents. . .

by Bill aka run75441 Raising the Price of Pizza 10 to 14 cents. . . Will pizza and food prices really have to increase to cover healthcare costs for the mostly young employees of the Olive Garden’s, Denny’s, and Papa John’s restaurants? A 10 to 14 cents increase per pizza is being proposed by Papa […]

Via Barry Ritholtz’s  Big Picture comes this PBS six minute video on why health care costs so much. Watch Documentary: Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

The CBO Wants to Discuss Healthcare and the Deficit?

The CBO Wants to Discuss Healthcare and the Deficit?(from run75411) Someone struck a nerve, “The Lady Doth Protest Too Much: CBO Director Asks for A Chat . . .”. Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism received an interesting email after a voice mail from the Associate Director of Communications for the CBO: Greetings, Susan.I am following […]

Health Care Thoughts: Reform Status According to Really Smart People

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Reform Status According to Really Smart People So after two days in rooms full of top notch front line experts, and two nights sleeping on a couch in a hospital waiting room, I offer a list of key take-aways.. This is reporting only, not advocacy. Some of my […]

Health spending growth in the US

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism brings us news of an important study addressing the issues of determining the costs of medical care, delivery, and insurance: A remarkably important and persuasive paper that calls into question the need for “reforming” Medicare has not gotten the attention it warrants. “An Examination of Health-Spending Growth In The United […]

Uwe E. Reinhardt on health spending

Uwe E. Reinhardt offers his viewpoint on trends in US health spending.  Following are excerpts from two articles in the NYT’s Economix  concerning the costs of our system and how they are apportioned in the big picture, and the impact on family budgets.  Reading the charts is actually important. There are trends in our health care […]

Insurance and Birth Control

In this Forbes article, Tim Worstall says he agrees with generally available birth control, but questions why health insurance should pay for it.    Specifically he says:  “But I really cannot see the point of trying to have health care insurance which then covers a multitude of treatments that aren’t really insurable matters, contraception being just […]

Health Care Thoughts: Research on Defensive Medicine (Part 1)

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health  Care Thoughts: Research on Defensive Medicine (Part 1) (Background – I have been an executive in two orthopaedic centers, and write and lecture for orthopaedic practice executives.) A Vanderbilt research survey of orthopaedic surgeons indicate that 24% of diagnostic testing is “defensive medicine.” This does not surprise me, as […]