Posted in bioehtics, health care, insurance, markets, misinformation/propaganda, psychology, research discussion, tagged doctor, insurance, physician, medical, cigarettes, medicine, blog, health care, obesity, America, American, economy, economist, Freakonomics, Steven Levitt, markets, fat, Stephen Dubner, McKinsey, Eric Finkelstein, The Fattening of America, incentives, innovations, calories, BMI, Body Mass Index, Pharmaceuticals, blood pressure, hypertension, lipid, Amish, Maslow, smokers, second-hand smoke on February 9, 2008 | 10 Comments »
I frequently make a big deal about obesity - how it’s probably one of the primary reasons Americans have comparatively low life expectancies, and how it contributes largely (no-pun intended) to our skyrocketing health care costs. My generalizations are imprecise at best…just plain wrong at worst.
Check out this Q and A with health economist Eric [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Communism/Socialism, corporate practices, entrepreneurialism, health care, law, markets, misinformation/propaganda, politics, psychology, tagged Adam Smith, American, American Idiot, Arab, Arabic, Bill Gross, blow, Bush Administration, capitalism, cocaine, Communism, congress, David R. Henderson, Democrats, doctor, Dubai, economist, ego, Enron, false idol, free market, George Bush, globalization, government, Green Day, guilt, health care, hedge fund, Hillary Clinton, Hoover Institute, hosptial, innovation, IRS, jealously, Liar's Poker, Libertarians, Lindsay Lohan, markets, Michael Lewis, New York Times, nurse, NYTimes.com, paternalism, Peter Goodman, PIMCO, politicians, politics, regulation, Republicans, Sarbanes-Oxley, Socialism, Stanford, tax, tongue-in-cheek, trader, Trojan Horse, Vicadin, welfare, William Gross, Worldcom on January 2, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Peter Goodman of the New York Times writes an interesting retrospective of free markets entitled “The Free Market: A False Idol After All?“ The article’s basic conclusion is that unfettered free markets (unhampered by regulation)…systems merely based upon ideology, cannot stand without some basic rules of government. And I don’t disagree. In the short run, [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Communism/Socialism, bioehtics, entrepreneurialism, health care, law, markets, medicare, politics, research discussion, wealth, tagged doctor, hospital, nurse, consumer, government, medicare, physician, congress, public, medical, competition, patient, innovation, health care, wealth, American, economics, contraception, orthopedic, Harvard, budget, cardiology, family doctor, BBC, Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, Mercedes, Benz, S-Class, sedan, privilege, African, automotive, cruise control, infrared camera, night vision, rural, seatbelt, anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control, ESC, satnav, mainstream, laboratory, safety, marketplace, metaphor, specialty hospital, internist, general practitioner, frontier, status-quo, research, study, prototype, Ashok Roy, Heritage Foundation, moratorium, unfair competition, Regina Herzlinger, MedPAC, HHS, mortality, costs, lobbyist, death sentence on December 26, 2007 | 1 Comment »
There’s a really cool show on BBC America called “Top Gear.” It’s a witty, irreverent, brutally honest car show hosted by three dry-witted Brits: Jeremy Clarkson (blog here), Richard Hammond, and James May. Last season they road tested the new Mercedes S-Class (video clip). The S-Class is the big, expensive standard example [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in bioehtics, health care, insurance, law, medicare, misinformation/propaganda, politics, research discussion, tagged health, doctor, government, medicare, congress, health care, Al Gore, obesity, American, diabetes, FDA, science, USDA, Men's Health, MSNBC, Nina Teicholz, fat, carbs, diet, nutrition, insulin, consensus, global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, Richard Lindzen, myth, environment, saturated, heart disease, American Medical Association, AMA, diet-heart hypothesis, evidence, agriculture, farmer, food pyramid, starch, potato, Walter Willett, Harvard, Eat, misinformation, lobbyists, Dissociative Identity Disorder, National Potato Council, sellout on December 13, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Two posts ago, I attacked Medicare. In my last post, I pointed out how budget cuts have all but destroyed the effectiveness of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. In this post, I’m going to talk about the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in another chapter about what happens when citizens entrust their health [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Communism/Socialism, bioehtics, health care, insurance, law, markets, politics, research discussion, wealth, tagged a priori, Adam Smith, American, Barack Obama, compromise, consumer directed health care, coverage, diabetes, doctor, economics, empirical, flu, forclosure, government, health care, Hillary Clinton, hospital, incentive, income tax, indemnity, insurance, medicine, pursuit of happiness, resources, reward, risk, Robin Hood, socialized medicine, sub prime on December 4, 2007 | 4 Comments »
A laissezfairehealthcare blog comment turns the raging American health care debate on its head by posing the question: what are Americans willing to do without. In a country where food, shelter and entertainment are readily accessible to an overwhelming majority of the population (relative to other countries with our size and immigration levels), most American [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Communism/Socialism, health care, markets, politics, tagged American, flat screen, government, HD, health care, high definition, monitor, preventative, radio, subsidy, WCShort on November 27, 2007 | No Comments »
What if the government provided a universal TV program? Would we have high-definition, flat screen, 50 inch monitors? Or a 13 inch black and white tube with 13 manually tuned channels? Would we even have television at all…or would be still be in the radio age?
What if Americans didn’t choose to spend $1,000 on televisions [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in health care, insurance, research discussion, wealth, tagged American, bloomberg, calorie, CDC, Christmas, doctor, exercise, fitness, gym, health care, Kevin Hassett, Medicaid, medicare, medicine, New Years, obese, obesity, sedentary, tax, Thanksgiving, wealth on November 26, 2007 | No Comments »
Exercise between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. That’s it. If every sedentary American exercised 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week during the holiday season, we could probably reduce health care expense in this country by 15%, maybe more. A brisk walk is all it would take.
Where am I getting this? An article by Kevin [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in markets, politics, wealth, tagged government, president, tax, Wall Street Journal, WSJ, wealth, money, income, treasury, Mike Huckabee, John Edwards, Senator, Socialist, Socialism, Distributive, Distributism, equality, inequality, propaganda, populist, America, American, economy, rich, inflation, poor, middle class, Adam Smith, Federalist, bracket, statistics, 60s, 70s, 80s, upward, mobility, mobile, yuppie, presidential, election, campaign on November 16, 2007 | 6 Comments »
A new study by the treasury department, summarized in a Wall Street Journal article, refutes the long-proselytized talking points of Democratic (and black-sheep Republican) presidential hopefuls such as Mike Huckabee and John Edwards- that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The study, which analyzed income tax returns from 96,000 Americans [...]
Read Full Post »
Health Policy Headlines