I’ve written about medical debt in the past, explaining that not all medical debt is bad. However, medical debt is growing due to Obamacare. I’ve also explained that medical debt has many causes and it’s not always a lack of money. People sometimes refuse to pay because they think their bill is wrong (it often is). Or patients don’t pay outstanding bills because they believe their health plan is liable for the balance. This is just my opinion, but I suspect some outstanding medical debts are because patients think the bill is unfair.
Category: Doctors & Hospitals
Wednesday Links
- Dental insurance isn’t really insurance – it’s a discount service.
- A 20-year-old research paper with lasting relevance asks: Why are people getting fatter? Answer: they are eating too much.
- Is there a nursing shortage or is there a shortage of nurses providing care? And what’s the difference?
- Obese patients are often excluded from drug trials. Is that a mistake?
- After looting CVS, Target and other stores, what do thieves do with the loot? They set up shop on the sidewalk across the street and sell them. DC has made that easier by decriminalizing street vending.
Friday Links
- Cost and benefits of legalizing pot: The economic benefits are broadly distributed, while the social costs may be more concentrated among individuals who use marijuana heavily. Recommended.
- Capitation v. fee-for-service medicine: fewer visits and fever services.
- Alex Tabarrok on “deaths of despair.”
- Ending homelessness: the case for “Housing First.” Timothy Taylor is always good, but I think I disagree with this.
Thursday Links
- Bob Graboyes: Free the nurses
- Bernie Sanders gets something right: nonprofit hospitals are getting undeserved tax breaks.
- The uneasy case for the government’s war on pain killers.
- WSJ: Americans have earlier access to new treatments than the rest of the world.
- AEI article: Less than 15 percent of the average physician’s time is spent in direct contact with patients. It’s no wonder that two-thirds of physicians are burned out.
- The presence of chief diversity officers in K-12 schools leads to lower test scores among black and Hispanic students and wider achievement gaps between minorities and white students.