Health Care Costs

 Posted by Mike  Healthcare  16 Responses »
Mar 262010
 

In his comments about the health legislation the other day, Doc made a very good point: the recent health care bill really doesn’t reform health care, it reforms health insurance. In particular, the bill does very little to directly address the spiraling costs of health care. Obviously that should be the next step in the reform process, although it begs a question: why are health care costs so high?

As far as I can tell, there are really four causes of the high health care costs in this country. I have no idea which one of these is the primary culprit; I’ll let you make up your own minds.
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A Few Thoughts On Health Care Reform

 Posted by Mike  Healthcare, U.S. Politics  6 Responses »
Mar 232010
 

1) The New York Times webpage has some very nice information about the bill here and here. You should check those out to see how the law is changing and how it might effect you.
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Legal Precedent

 Posted by Doc Opp  Uncategorized  2 Responses »
Mar 232010
 

Last night, I went to a legal history lecture. Its not something I normally do, and a topic I know very little about, but it came with a free dinner. Anyway, the talk was about inheritance law, and went through a number of important legal cases that were precedent setting for the circumstances under which people’s wills could be overturned in court (after their deaths). A couple of things struck me as interesting and disturbing – but being a non-expert on the area, I’m not sure if my concerns are misguided. Perhaps one of our legal readers can alleviate (or justify) my fears:
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Census? They already know us…

 Posted by Doc Opp  Uncategorized  5 Responses »
Mar 192010
 

I just got my census form. Its 10 questions. With the possible exception of race, I think all the information is also reported in my taxes. Moreover, the census people knew who I was already, because they were able to send me a census form.

The census has spent a fortune on advertising. They sent out a letter that said “in a week you’ll get your census, please fill it out” which is unlikely to make the slightest impact in actual response rates, but probably cost $10 million to send out (assuming 300 million Americans at a little over 3 cents each). Not to mention the cost of the actual census itself. And all the information that’s being collected, the government already knows through other agencies.

Perhaps the time has come to end the census, and use that money for things that aren’t entirely redundant…

Good disguised as bad

 Posted by Doc Opp  Uncategorized  1 Response »
Mar 172010
 

I was reading an article recently that described how US students are falling behind their peers in other countries in terms of educational achievement. Lots of people are decrying this as a terrible thing, and there was a lot of inflammatory rhetoric. I would very much like to see the US increase its educational standing in the world, and think we should devote much effort to that end. However, in thinking about why US educational achievement has fallen, I realized that it may (counter intuitively) be a sign of progress. Here’s why: Continue reading »

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