MichaelW on Aug 30 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Health Care, Media, MichaelW's Page
It’s almost as if the Dems can’t help but to resort to misogynistic antagonism in dealing with Gov. Sarah Palin. This comes courtesy of Alan Colmes, citing Rogers Cadenhead who questions Palin’s maternal abilities:
One bit of weirdness associated with Palin concerns the birth of her youngest child. As the Alaskan media reported, Palin was [...]
ChrisB on Aug 21 2008 | Filed under: Chris' Page, Health Care, Libertarianism
Michael F. Cannon at Cato blogs about a NYTimes article on the rife fraud found and covered up at Medicare. A confidential draft of a federal inspector general’s report claimed that the behavior they found at the Medicare Administration was rife with irregularities.
Medicare reported to Congress that, for the fiscal year of 2006, AdvanceMed’s investigations [...]
Peg on Aug 16 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Peg's Page
What attracted you to your spouse? Was it his devilish sense of humor? Her warmth and abilities to be a fine mother? His strength and intelligence? Her beauty and sexiness?
Today, we find couples tying the knot for another reason: excellent health insurance.
Bo and Dena McLain of Milford, Ohio, eloped in March so he could [...]
ChrisB on Aug 14 2008 | Filed under: Blogs, Chris' Page, Health Care
Ryan Ellis, the Tax Policy Director at Americans for Tax Reform, presents 3 principles of conservative health care.
Principle 1: Conservative health care reform should neither raise taxes nor increase the size of government. You’d think this would be a no-brainer, but trust me that it isn’t.
Principle 2: Health insurance should have nothing to do [...]
Lance on Jul 25 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Lance's Page, Libertarianism, Society
Peg pointed me this way, and I really enjoyed nodding in agreement. Of course, I have long nodded in agreement with Megan. Especially on these:
2) Gay marriage. I’m basically pro, but I take the Burkean arguments seriously.
3) Immigration. Again, I’m pro–but while I think the anti-immigration side makes often ridiculously ahistorical arguments about [...]
MichaelW on Jun 23 2008 | Filed under: Health Care, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page
The idea of state funded and administered universal health care is a bugbear of libertarians everywhere, and especially those who are subjected to such a system as a matter of course. Routinely held up as one of the worst of the lot of state-run systems is Britain’s NHS. Now, direct from the trenches [...]
ChrisB on Jun 13 2008 | Filed under: Chris' Page, Health Care
It seems a chiropractor in Canada was manipulating a patient’s neck and paralyzed her. Luckily she isn’t dead from a stroke.
Sandy had been going to Stiles regularly for more than seven years, receiving adjustments to her back and neck that she believed helped maintained her health. Minutes after a routine chiropractic visit that included a [...]
Peg on May 01 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Health Care, Peg's Page
John McCain gets my vote.
What exactly is the problem with the American health-care system?
The problem is not that Americans don’t have fine doctors, medical technology, and treatments. American medicine is the envy of the world. The problem is not that most Americans lack adequate health insurance. The vast majority of Americans have private insurance, and [...]
Lance on May 01 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Humor, Lance's Page
Yet another reason to read Steve Newton, you discover blogs with stuff like this on it:
But the secret reason why all white people love socialized medicine is that they all love the idea of receiving health care without having a full-time job. This would allow them to work as a freelance designer/consultant/copywriter/photographer/blogger, open their own [...]
Peg on Apr 23 2008 | Filed under: Economics, Health Care, Peg's Page
We all expect to eat - but we don’t get insurance to guarantee food. We all need various sorts of transportation. But, other than some insurance to cover the value of a valuable vehicle, we don’t need insurance to make sure that we can get around.
Why then, do we need health insurance for routine exams, [...]
MichaelW on Feb 21 2008 | Filed under: Economics, Education, Foreign affairs, Health Care, MichaelW's Page
A Cuban medical office with a sign reading “No prescriptions available.” Photo by: Dr. Darsi Ferrer [via The Real Cuba].
News of Fidel Castro’s retirement has elicited some interesting responses. Chris Bertram’s has to be one of the most arrogant and least informed:
So let’s hear it for universal literacy and decent standards of health [...]
Synova on Feb 02 2008 | Filed under: Eugenics, Health Care, Law, Synova's Page
Kim at Wizbang links to this story about eugenic thinking in Brittan.
The comments came as the Lords debated an amendment, [...] that would have protected unborn disabled children from abortion after the 24 week gestational time limit. The amendment was defeated by 89 votes to 22.
Under Britain’s abortion law, children judged to have some form [...]
Lance on Jan 29 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Lance's Page
Why? Because people are fed up with waiting for care and a health care bureaucracy with no incentive to improve:
Waiting times for medical care in Sweden are the longest in Europe, according to the Health Consumer Powerhouse, which analyzes health-care systems in the region. About 33,000 people had been waiting more than three months for [...]
MichaelW on Jan 29 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Health Care, MichaelW's Page
As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney oversaw the implementation of state-wide universal health care, something that he touts as a major accomplishment on his campaign website. In fact, after signing the legislation into law, Romney penned a an Op-Ed for the Wall Street Journal extolling the virtues of the health care plan, even going [...]
Lee on Jan 27 2008 | Filed under: Health Care, Lee's Page, Travel
Yeah, that’s me after a few too many cocktails in the hotel lounge. As Lance related, I’m in Houston in the Texas Medical Center (TMC) visiting my father who recently had an internal defibrillator put on his heart. The surgery went remarkably well and he seems more lively than when he went under the knife [...]
Peg on Jan 22 2008 | Filed under: Election 2008, Health Care, Media, Society
Earlier in the day, you might have been wondering how much of your assets might melt away, as markets around the world gyrated with perceived increasingly negative news. Later, on political blogs everywhere, reports that Fred Thompson was ending a run for his party’s nomination.
Then, news that a young and successful actor had died, [...]
MichaelW on Jan 15 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, regulation
From the “Holier Than Thou” department comes this interesting photo taken by Larry Fink for Wired Magazine. (link to larger photo)
What’s that he’s reaching for with his right hand? Why, it’s a Cheez-ItTM!
After gaining national media attention for spearheading an almost total ban on trans fats in city restaurants starting last July, Bloomberg [...]
Lee on Jan 14 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Health Care, Lee's Page
(photo: Jonathan Boeke)
The latest 419 scams aren’t the only nuisances for American businesses emerging out of Nigeria this year. Using the vast archive of documents made public during the 1990s epidemic of class action lawsuits against tobacco companies, Nigeria has decided to get in on the gravy train. The BBC is reporting today that [...]
Lance on Dec 05 2007 | Filed under: Economics, Health Care, Lance's Page
Personally I find this observation from a paper by Mark Ramseyer unsurprising to say the least:
The Japanese national health insurance provides universal coverage. Necessarily, this entails a subsidy that dramatically raises the demand for medical services. In the face of the increased demand, the government suppresses costs by suppressing prices. By combining extensive biographical (including [...]
MichaelW on Nov 27 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Economics, Election 2008, Health Care, MichaelW's Page, regulation
Hillary and Obama agree on taxing Americans more, they just can’t agree on whether it’s the “middle” or “upper” class that they’re prepared to squeeze for votes (HT: Paul Caron):
Class, always an awkward topic in the United States, made a rare cameo appearance [Ed. note: Rare? Apparently Joel Achenbach is new to politics?] [...]
Lance on Nov 14 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Economics, Health Care, Lance's Page
The meme that our private sector, especially our pharmaceutical and medical device companies, has nothing to do with our success as a health care innovator is unfortunately widespread:
The great breakthroughs in the history of medicine, from the development of the polio vaccine to the identification of cancer-killing agents, did not take place because a for-profit [...]
Lance on Nov 14 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Lance's Page, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war
They have to be, so CBS tries to do the numbers. Like most of us however, when numbers fit you take them at face value:
But a five-month CBS News investigation discovered data that shows a startling rate of suicide, what some call a hidden epidemic, Chief Investigative Reporter Armen Keteyian reports exclusively.
“I just felt like [...]
Lance on Nov 12 2007 | Filed under: Culture, Health Care, Lance's Page, Society, social science
The New York Times has a nice piece on the latest health research on the impact of weight on health. Of course, like most nutrition and weight related research we should approach it with some caution as John Tierney has discussed at great length (or breadth?)
I actually enjoy the social history in it the best. [...]
Lance on Nov 08 2007 | Filed under: Economics, Health Care, Lance's Page
Wilson Mixon notices a rather predictable, but nevertheless ironic aspect data on the cost of health care:
Russ Roberts provides a snapshot of how much third-party payments have grown since 1960.
My computations below are from the table from which he excerpts, with per-capita out-of-pocket expenditures computed and converted to real terms.
Year [...]
Lance on Nov 06 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Economics, Health Care, Lance's Page
Greg Mankiw responds to questions about his views on health care following his piece on the misuse of statistics in the health care debate:
Q: There has been a lot of blogosphere commentary on your piece. Are you going to respond to it?
A: No. Life is too short. But I will note that I am a [...]
Lance on Oct 10 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Lance's Page, Libertarianism, Media, regulation
A couple of days ago I linked to McQ and Mark Steyn on the state of knowledge about the “poor family” whose child was used by Senate Democrats in their push to expand the SCHIP program. Here is why:
The media was taking their story and basically pushing the story verbatim, no questions asked, as [...]
Lance on Oct 08 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Lance's Page
I was going to bring you up to speed on the ridiculous response the Democrats gave to President Bush’s veto of the expansion of SCHIP and the mainstream media’s clownish and credulous layers of fact checkers, but here are a couple of good summaries of where it stands now. Follow the links.
I especially like this [...]
Keith_Indy on Sep 28 2007 | Filed under: Culture, Domestic Politics, Economics, Health Care, Keith's Page
Some interesting observations about universal health care in Japan. I suppose limiting the amount of care the government provides for is one way to hold down health care costs, but I doubt that is what people have in mind when they hear about plans for instituting such a thing here.
If universal care were the [...]
Lance on Sep 20 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Lance's Page
Why? This chart might give a clue:
Seems that not only is the US the best place to be treated for cancer, Canada isn’t even in the top 20. The difference is also startlingly large. Say Anything has more.
Update: See Kav’s comment below for some clarification that my post seems to desperately need.
More: Thanks to QandO [...]
MichaelW on Aug 08 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Economics, Health Care, MichaelW's Page
Via McQ (who had posted on the topic previously), I see that Wisconsin is planning to introduce universal statewide health care at an initially estimated cost of about $15.2 Billion per year:
Democrats who run the Wisconsin Senate have dropped the Washington pretense of incremental health-care reform and moved directly to passing a plan to insure [...]
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