Implanted hips and knees don’t last forever. Surgeons try to schedule them in such a way that patients who get implants won’t need another, but there is no guarantee. For example, patients in their 60s are often advised to hold out for a few years so they won’t need a second hip or knee replacement in their 80s. A rule of thumb is that an implanted hip or knee should be good for at least 15 to 20 years, and possibly longer. A study in The Lancet found that knee implants were still good after 10 years in 96% of patients, and still working after 20 years in 90% of patients. Another study found more than 80% of knee replacements last 25 years or more.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Tuesday Links
- Jeff Goldbery explains our disappointing life expectancy statistics: We lead the rest of the developed word in death by guns, suicides, drug overdoses, and in obesity.
- Unpaid caregiving lowers employment and wages – for men caregivers more than women.
- For the lay reader: why Claudia Goldin won the Nobel Prize in economics.
- How liberals live: New York city has more income inequality than any other large city in the country. (NYT)
Should Insurers Use AI to Manage Care? Yes, but with Checks & Balances
Many states have passed laws limiting prior authorization. Physicians hate prior authorization and claim insurers and health plans use it to ration care. I tend to be more sympathetic to prior authorization because in an industry where patients are insulated from the cost of their care, there needs to be some checks and balances over unnecessary care and care that is unnecessarily expensive. I often tell the story about the time my wife unknowingly tried to schedule a CT scan at a hospital outpatient clinic near our house.
Monday Links
- Penn Wharton warning: the US is headed toward default.
- Aaron Carroll: misinformation about health care has a very long history.
- Will shaming hospitals make them lower their charges?
- How progressives thought about race – 100 years ago.
- The worst police abuses do not involve accidental shootings.
- More on why marriage matters.