CoR #208
Jason Fisher of Waterway Financial Group makes his CavRisk hosting debut with a terrific roundup of interesting risk-related posts. Check it out!
Month: May 2014
Is Health Exchange enrollment overstated?
Over 8 million people have signed up for a health plan through the health insurance exchanges created by the Affordabe Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). Or have they? Although policymakers may say that this is the truth, leaders at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), say that these figures may be overstated for two reasons: Changing enrollment: In…
New Icon of Medicine: The Stetho-phone?
The stethoscope has been the icon of medicine for 200 years. Shouldn’t we be able to have built a better device by now? In fact, an improved stethoscope exists. The Atlantic describes a new technology that combines a stethoscope and smartphone technology. The CardioSleeve, a new, FDA-approved accessory, transforms a standard analog stethoscope into a…
Type I and Type II Errors for Dummies
In previous posts, I have describe in detail what constitutes Type I and Type II errors. This figure, however, conveys the concept much more succinctly. HT: Marginal Revolution.
Health care cost rising by almost 10%
Many times I have been asked whether the Affordable Care Act is a good thing. The 1 sentence answer is: “Yes, because it expands health insurance coverage to more Americans, but no because it adds many layers of regulation and does little to slow cost growth.” This last point is rearing its ugly head. Sally Pipes…
Alliterative Links
Homer Economicus. HIX 2.0. Health IT and safety net providers History of Phineas Gage. Ha Ha?
A HWR fit for a King
With the NBA playoffs are upon us, the Healthcare Economist reached out to some NBA stars to see what they like to do in their spare time. LeBron James returned my call and after a lengthly discussion, I learned that he loves to read the Health Wonk Review (HWR). In fact, his favorite topics are: Affordable…
Is current hospice care inadequate?
In recent years, demand for palliative rather than interventionist end-of-life in hospices has grown dramatically. More than a million patients each year use hospice facilities. In fact, in some cases terminally patients live longer in hospice than in more intensive care settings. However, hospice are generally most attractive when they provide treatment if patients face…
CBO vs. Urban: ACA and Unemployment
Will the Affordable Care Act (aka ACA, aka Obamacare) cost American millions of jobs. A recent report by the CBO says yes. CBO estimates that the ACA will reduce the total number of hours worked, on net, by about 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent during the period from 2017 to 2024, almost entirely because workers…
Explaining Geographic Variation in Exchange Enrollment
Why did state-based health insurance exchanges (HIEs) enroll more people than those that were federally run? One reason of course is the problems with healthcare.gov. However, there may be other reasons as well. A RWJF report finds the following. This analysis reveals extreme differences in the amount of funding available to states to help consumers…