No Con Economics

Advocates for a single payer health insurance plan, such as the Physicians for a National Health Program, have been making their case for decades. According to a just published survey by Merritt Hawkins , 56 percent of physicians now somewhat or strongly support a single payer system in the United States. Furthermore, in recent months, … More If the Question Relates to Efficient and Equitable Health Policy Reform, Single Payer is Not the Answer

With the passage of Medicare in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson opined “No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that [older Americans] have so carefully put away over a lifetime.” As the demographics of this country expand the pressures on our slowly growing economy, payment for an expensive illness response system may indeed crush … More Medical Care As We Know It In The US Is Unsustainable.

In my previous posting on the ACA, I posited five questions that serious health policy reform should address.  High risk pools form part of a response to the first question:  Who should pay for the predictably expensive (such as those with chronic disease)? Based on Statistical Brief #497 (SB497)  from the Agency for Healthcare Research … More Are High Risk Pools the Best Way to Keep Down Premiums in the Non-Group Insurance Market?

We know that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) cannot stand without change.  What we don’t know is what will replace or repair it.  Given the array of statements regarding values and principles, there is the potential for public policy that could largely deliver on a set of shared values (based on … More The Affordable Care Act: What’s Next?