Evidence Based Medicine is a simple concept: using evidence and data (on top of intuition) to help inform physicians regarding diagnostics and treatment. Why would any physician object to this practice? It’s not like the data will be taking over their minds, or forcing them to make decisions. Medical data will do what data always … Continue reading
Category Archives: Healthcare
The Model for New Healthcare Reform?
The United States has the highest health care expenditure per capita ($7,960 in 2009) across all other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Despite this, the US is ranked twenty-third out of the thirty countries measured in the OECD for mean life expectancy. It is no small secret that the costs of medical … Continue reading
Using the Principles of Economics to “Fix” Health Care
The phrase “at the margin” refers to the next decision made. Thus, marginal cost is the cost of the next good or service. So the marginal cost of apples is the cost of the next apple purchased. One of the fundamental principles of economics is that rational people think on the margin. That means that … Continue reading
Aligning the Incentives of Patients and Insurers
A cause of increasing health care costs is the three-player game between patients, providers, and insurers. Patients interact with providers at the time of service, deciding which service to provide. Insurers interact with providers after the service has been performed to supply payment. Patients interact with insurers regularly to pay premiums. Thus, patients do not … Continue reading
The Private Life of Public Policy
Politicians love politics, but they don’t always love business. They come to D.C. high on the ideological hog, but when it comes time to solve the pressing economic issues of the day, they employ the brightest minds that never worked in the industries they cover. I mostly associate with academics, and there is a similar … Continue reading
The Fraudulent Few Escalate Costs of Federal Entitlements
Medicaid and Medicare fraud are lucrative temptations for criminals that balloon healthcare costs for the majority of payers by hundreds of billions of dollars. A few unscrupulous physicians commit fraud by billing Medicaid/Medicare programs for services, drugs or supplies that are unnecessary, not performed, lower quality, more costly than what was actually performed, or that … Continue reading
Weekly Graphic: Government Spending – 40 Year Comparison
Data from CBO 2012. All numbers are in FY 2005 dollars adjusted for inflation. © Joseph Chrisman Continue reading
Economy / Fiscal policy / Healthcare / Politics / Tax
Occupy entitlements! And the tax code!
By Will Portman The Occupy movement has brought income inequality to the forefront of the national political discussion over the past year, even if both the movement and the issue have faded in recent months. Occupy protestors are concerned about the growing wealth gap in the U.S., pointing to studies like the recent Congressional Budget Office … Continue reading
The Supreme Court’s Difficult Decision
As marked by the uncommon three days of oral arguments, totaling six and a half hours, the decision of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) constitutionality will not be an easy for the nine Justices of the Supreme Court. Lawyers argued four issues in front of the bench: the Anti-Injunction Act, the Individual Mandate, the severability … Continue reading
Economy / Fiscal policy / Healthcare / Politics / Tax
The Ryan budget vs. the Obama budget
By Will Portman Winston Churchill once said, “Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing… after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) cited the late British Prime Minister’s famous quote this week as he unveiled The Path to Prosperity, his budget for fiscal year 2013, arguing … Continue reading
Policy Interns 
You must be logged in to post a comment.