Tag: "Health Care Costs"

Cancer Study Authors Respond to Critics

In a recent Health Affairs paper, we documented that the United States has a significant survival advantage over much of Europe when it comes to cancer: 1.8 years for those diagnosed during our study window. Furthermore, we showed over a 17-year period that this gap had widened, not narrowed, and that this widening was more valuable than traditional health valuation approaches suggest. As a result, we argued that the additional spending in the United States was ‘worth it.’

 These results have generated a lot of controversy, and even some criticism. We understand the controversy given the impression that U.S. health care spending is too high. However, we find the criticism both irrelevant and misguided, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

More on cancer care in the United States and Europe at the Health Affairs blog.

May 24, 2012 | 4 comments | by

How Community Rating Hurts Those it is Designed to Help

This illustration comes from Avik Roy:

In the first bar, there is a classically underwritten distribution of insurance costs: the 18-year-old pays $800 in premiums, and the 64-year-old pays $4,800: six times as much. Then, in the second bar, 3-to-1 community rating is imposed, which redistributes the cost of premiums. Now, 18-year-olds must pay $1,400 for insurance—a 75 percent increase—so that 64-year-olds can pay 13 percent less… after adverse selection, the oldest policyholder ends up paying more than he would have under free-market underwriting: $4,900 instead of $4,800. A government policy aimed at forcing young people to subsidize premiums for the elderly ends up driving up costs for everybody.

May 23, 2012 | 5 comments | by

Income Inequality vs. Upward Mobility, and Other News

NPR wants to share your pain.

There is almost no relationship between income inequality and upward mobility among the states.

Do ObamaCare grants reflect Chicago-style cronyism?

Washington State legalizes home cooking. Somewhat.

David Friedman describes TSA vandalism.

May 21, 2012 | 5 comments | by

This is America?

The health reform law gave HHS the power to scrutinize “unreasonable” rate hikes in states that didn’t have robust review programs. But “scrutiny” doesn’t give the department power to actually block the rates from going into effect. HHS can use its bully pulpit to publicly shame insurers whose rates don’t pass its sniff test – and HHS has done just that, holding four media calls since November to scold insurers each time it’s made a new “unreasonable” determination.

The title of this article is “Jawboning by HHS Doesn’t Scare Insurers,” but maybe they should be scared.

May 16, 2012 | 5 comments | by

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

Cause of the use of TB: urban living; cause of its decline: better housing.

In 1975, the restaurant critic Craig Claiborne ate a $4,000, 31-course, 9-wine meal (cost today: $17,000).

Reason for the fall of South Vietnam: Congress cut their aid in half.

Fidelity: Retired Couple Needs $240,000 For Health Costs, Up 4 Percent From 2011.

May 10, 2012 | 5 comments | by

More Hospital Cost Puzzles

In Los Angeles, for example, the average patient admitted to Los Angeles Community Hospital cost Medicare nearly $24,644 during the stay and in the month afterward, 37 percent above the national median. Across town, according to the data, an essentially similar patient admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center cost Medicare $17,628, or 2 percent below the median.

Entire article by Jordan Rau in Kaiser Health News.

May 10, 2012 | 7 comments | by

Amazing: Bureaucracies Discover the 20th Century

NowClinic, which started in 2010 and has expanded into 22 states, is part of the explosion of Web- and telephone-based medical services that experts say are transforming the delivery of primary health care, giving consumers access to inexpensive, round-the-clock care for routine problems — often without having to leave home or work.

Source: Kaiser Health News.

May 08, 2012 | 5 comments | by

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

Global budgets are coming to Massachusetts.

The researchers found an astonishing 37 errors for every 100 paper prescriptions, versus around 7 per 100 for those who used e-prescribing software.

Simply put, Obama has become more hostile to medical marijuana patients than any president in U.S. history.

May 08, 2012 | 7 comments | by

Asking the Wrong Questions

What’s a year of life worth? Here is Aaron Carroll on the subject:

When asked, most oncologists thought that a drug should cost less than $100,000 per year of life gained to be cost-effective. When confronted with a patient (even a hypothetical one), however, they endorsed giving drugs that cost up to $250,000 per additional year of life.

The authors conclude that we should do a better job of helping doctors understand how cost-effectiveness information should be used. I agree with that, but want to add to it. It’s necessary, but not sufficient.

I think society needs to have this discussion. Almost no one has $250,000, or even $100,000, saved up if they need it to extend their life for one year. So when we say we think that’s the reasonable number, we’re asking others to pay for it, either through government programs or private insurance. Is $100,000 a reasonable amount to pay for an additional year of life? Is it too low? Is $250,000 enough?

What’s wrong with this post? Answer below the fold.

May 04, 2012 | 11 comments | by

Employer as Big Brother

WellPoint nurses and case managers pore over patient records and claims histories to see whether patients are following doctors’ orders…

Express Scripts this summer plans to roll out a program…to identify and intervene with patients less likely to take their prescriptions correctly…

Patients identified as likely to be noncompliant then receive tailored interventions to help overcome their specific hurdle. Some patients will receive over-the-phone pharmacist consultations and help signing up for auto-refills and other programs that simplify adherence.

More on the approach from health care players to improve health care quality and costs in the WSJ.

May 03, 2012 | 5 comments | by
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