Archive for the ‘Medicaid/Medicare/SCHIP’ Category

Incremental persuasion: Medicare and Medicaid

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

This post is about incremental persuasion and Medicare, and is intended for those who value each individual's freedom to choose whether or not to give to charity, which charity to support, and persuading others to share the same value.  If this does not describe you, I beg of you not ...

More doctors drop Medicare patients

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

I like Ted Kennedy's slogan "Medicare for all." It reminds voters that America already has a highly successful, popular single-payer program, albeit only for the elderly. — Paul Krugman, June 13 2005 How "highly successful" is Medicare?  Consider the following story from ABC News: The Houston Chronicle reported last week that more ...

Medicaid strains ER more than uninsured

Friday, July 11th, 2008

A common rationale for compulsory insurance is that the uninsured get their medical care from emergency rooms for free, and pass on the cost to the insured.  I debunked this reasoning in an earlier post.   Yet, for those who do not agree with my critique (if you don't agree, please ...

SCHIP director: SCHIP lacks “actual evidence of the benefits for children”

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Via Michael Cannon at Cato-at-Liberty: Like other advocates for children’s health, I have an almost religious conviction that the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is effective public policy. ... Although I have no empirical evidence to support the assertion that SCHIP is a beneficial and effective way to invest in ...

Overtreated with Medicare

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

According to the OECD, patients in the United States pay only 13% of their medical expenses out of pocket (as of 2005).  This is equal to the United Kingdom, and less than Canada, both of which have (nominally) single-payer health care.  The consequence of patients spending so little for their own ...

Dehumanizing doctors

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Problem: Doctors may stop seeing Medicare patients because the reimbursement rates are so low. The solution?  At least one blog commenter wants to make Medicare the only game in town so doctors either put up or shut up.  Bloomberg News reports: James King, a doctor in Selmer, Tenn., doesn’t take new Medicare patients. More ...

Kling on health care delivery

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Arnold Kling has written an insightful article on health care delivery at The American: As an economist who has studied healthcare, I am familiar with the statistical evidence that America’s system is inefficient. However, my father’s recent hospitalization and death gave me a new perspective. What I saw in healthcare delivery ...

Compulsory insurance & the “general welfare”

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

In a recent Christian Science Monitor piece, Karl Manheim and Jamie Court, argue that compulsory insurance laws are unconstitutional, while laws forcing us to fund government-run charities such as Medicare and Social Security are not: In fact, under the law, there's a big difference between participation in a government health program ...

Marxism via Medicaid

Monday, June 16th, 2008

In a letter printed in the Rocky Mountain News last week, Diana Hsieh reminds us that the principle behind Medicaid, and all government-run charities (a.k.a. "entitlement programs") is the foundation of Marxism: Parents, not society, should care for kids Gov. Bill Ritter touted his health-care reforms as the "building blocks" of ...

Colorado SCHIP “like a kind of mess”

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

From the Rocky Mountain News: The state program that delivers health care to more than 53,500 needy children and pregnant women is in administrative disarray, state auditors said Monday. A report on the Children's Basic Health Plan found that 10 percent of patients were classified incorrectly — either as eligible when they ...