Estimated Waste in American Healthcare Spending
Daily Chart from The Economist.
Market efficiencies in action.
tofias dot net
log | a bucket full of thoughts
Posts tagged with healthcare
“ Romney’s argument becomes strained, however, when he pronounces that the individual mandate is the ideal solution at the state level but tyrannical when imposed at the federal level. Still, Romney’s real problem is not just that he supported a mandate, but that he showed Democrats the political and procedural path to passing a universal-health-care bill in America.”
— Ryan Lizza
Cowboys and Pit Crews
Atul Gawande prescribes cooperation for medical providers and he frames his argument so well with romantic cowboys and tightly knit pit crews. Most of all, I love this bit which expresses so much of organizational behavior, politics, and the over-confidence of smart people:
Making teams successful is more difficult than we knew.
The Velluvial Matrix
Atul Gawande on complexity in medicine and healthcare.
“ Every once in a while a moment comes where you have a chance to vindicate all those best hopes that you had about yourself, about this country, where you have a chance to make good on those promises that you made … And this is the time to make true on that promise. We are not bound to win, but we are bound to be true. We are not bound to succeed, but we are bound to let whatever light we have shine.”
— Barack Obama to House Democrats
via Paul Krugman.
The Popularity of Healthcare Reform
Ezra Klein asks if healthcare reform is popular – and it is if you ask people about their support for many of the components of the reform, but not so much if you ask people to stick their thumb up or down to the whole thing.
I think it’s easy to chalk up these sorts of survey results to the common variability and stupid human tricks we often see with polling. However, I think a good portion of the blame has to go to Obama and the Democrats for failing to market this bill with morality and as a series of regulatory changes (see Canes-Wrone and de Marchi 2002) and allowing the GOP to frame the discussion as a question over the size of government. It’s much too easy to maintain a status quo policy by maligning leviathan and the Democrats let their opponents do just that.
Link via Seth Masket who is quickly becoming one of my favorite bloggers.
More and better said on Ezra K. from frequent co-author and good friend of the log, Michael Ensley:
A big bill leaves too much room for doubt, attack. They took the wrong lesson away from 1993-94. The problem for Clinton was not getting Congress involved early. The problem was setting a modest, focused, and clear bill. We are going to make it better by doing X. Instead they were all over the map. By trying to do a comprehensive overhaul you open up to many avenues. Maybe he had to keep to campaign promises. But why not start by delivering something simple. A health insurance reform bill based on mandates and eliminating discrimination based on pre-existing health conditions.
I’ve frequently espoused the Congress-wasn’t-involved-early-enough story while explaining 1994. But I think Ensley is right, the tack taken in both instances was too sprawling to appeal to an inattentive electorate.
House and Senate Health Care Bill Comparison
Something gained, something lost.
“ One possibility is to ask House Democrats to approve the Senate version of the health care legislation, sending it directly to President Obama for his signature and side-stepping the need for another Senate vote.”
— The New York Times
Well, that’s one way to end strung out negotiations that need to get wrapped-up in a conference committee.
“ Beneath the arguments about government intrusion into the health care market, death panels, and such, a much more emotionally-laden dynamic is at work. Views about race along with a suite of other visceral matters are linked to people’s opinions about health care reform, which likely explains why the present debate has caused a much stronger uproar than it did in 1994.”
— Marc J. Hetherington and Jonathan D. Weiler (via The Monkey Cage)
Sadly a win for Jimmy Carter is a loss for the country.
