The Economics Of Healthcare

Michael Kirsch, a practicing physician and newspaper columnist, laments that there are questions he can never answer satisfactorily for his patients. His questions are central to the public policy debate increasingly being decided by voters and politicians rather than physicians and economists.

Here are our answers to his questions and other articles on the economics of healthcare:

	*Why Are Canadian Drugs Cheaper?* Why shouldn’t we just institute price controls in America?
	*Do We Need Price Controls to Stop Exorbitant Hospital Fees?* After the birth of my (David’s) first child, my wife and I noticed we were being billed for a very expensive bedpan and box of tissues that we had never used.
	*Why Are Insurance Companies Reluctant To Cover Preventive Care?* Now there is absolutely no charge for a costly set of test and procedures on the all-you-can-spend preventive care buffet.
	*U.S. Health Care Costs versus Health Outcomes* Asians in New Jersey have the best life expectancy of any racial or ethnic group.
	*Cryptic Medical Bills And Health Insurance* Next time you receive an unintelligible medical bill, remember how hard it is for your doctor to get paid.
	*Skin in the Game of Health Care* “Shouldn’t patients and their families have some skin in the game as a brake on the profligate spending of other people’s money for health care?”
	*Why Do Physicians Permit, If Not Encourage, Futile Medical Care?* We can only afford to allow others the freedom to strive against death when we are not trying collectively to subsidize it.
	*How Can We Make Medical Insurance Affordable?* We must return, as much as possible, to a fee-for-service approach to health care and restore the traditional doctor-patient relationship.

	*Seven Facts About World Health Care According to WHO* This WHO 2000 Statistical Report was the study used to justify and promote the Affordable Care Act. Here are seven facts about this so-called research lurking behind politicians’ claims that our health care system is in crisis
	*World Health Organization 2000 Statistical Report* After I have studied their technical reports and data for over a month and a half, I have finally been able to track their formulas and findings across the dozen sub-studies and their corresponding literature. The methods and statistical formulas used are at times surprising, alarming, or comical.
	*Do We Have a Right to Health Care?* The Affordable Care Act encourages everyone to get health care insurance by punishing those who don’t. Proponents of Obamacare justify this saying that health care is a human right. But is it?
	*Third-Party-Payer Markets* Anytime a third-party-payer system exists market forces will not hold down costs as much as they would otherwise.
	*The Ruse Of Healthcare To Justify Massively Higher Taxes* At least there will be less rich people to hate.
	*Obamacare, the UN-Affordable Care Act* ObamaCare Is the Worst Legislation in 75 Years.
	*Obama Care is costing Americans $384 Billion more each year* The “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (PPACA), is misleadingly named. It has neither protected patients nor made healthcare more affordable.
	*The Affordable Care Act (ACA) May Cost The Country $2.8 Trillion More Each Year.* You can often tell exactly what a piece of legislation will NOT do by what they title it.
	*Is Obamacare Responsible for a Jobless Recovery?* Three part time employees equals two full time employees while avoiding $4,000 in annual fines.
	*Misleading Statistics About Pharmaceutical Companies* It is difficult to reason with people who lie and mislead in their statistics because they believe that they have the moral high ground.
	*Propaganda Blitz Scheduled for October 1* Requiring employers to deliver government propaganda is genius.
	*Ban On Domestic Propaganda Overturned* Let’s spend $1.25 billion to enlist acceptance of Obamacare by young people.