The underlying philosophy in most of the school systems I’ve encountered (growing up and as a parent, with one notable exception) seems to be based on the assumption that a student’s greatest opportunities for growth are in his areas of weakness. Obviously students do need to develop their skills in areas where they don’t demonstrate […]
The Costs of Medical Care
Thomas Sowell does a good job of explaining in a recent column how costs are not reduced simply because you pay them in another form. We are incessantly being told that the cost of medical care is “too high”– either absolutely or as a growing percentage of our incomes. But nothing that is being proposed […]
What the Health Reform Bill Really Says
The Wall Street Journal has an important article from a few days ago highlighting some of the important passages in the 2,000 page legislation. Here are the first two highlights: Sec. 202 (p. 91-92) of the bill requires you to enroll in a “qualified plan.” If you get your insurance at work, your employer will […]
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on Health Reform
This is John Mackey’s Wall Street Journal column on health reform from last August. Mackey proposes health savings accounts as a key part of the solution and talks a bit about how they have made things more cost effective at Whole Foods. You can also read the very good interview that the WSJ did with […]
Mike Rogers' Opening Statement on Health Care Reform
This is a very good opening statement on health care reform by congressman Mike Rogers from last summer. Many of his statements go to the core issues:
How Health Savings Accounts Can Reform Health Care Better Than a Goverment Bill — Without Creating Any New Laws
One of the main reasons that we are in this health care mess is that nobody has stated a clear case for health savings accounts. Health savings accounts just may be the “sleeping solution” to the health care problem. But people aren’t seeing this because most of the time when health savings accounts are discussed, […]
The Worst Bill Ever
Nancy Pelosi’s health care bill earns recognition as the worst bill ever by the Wall Street Journal. Here’s the last paragraph: Mr. Obama rode into office on a wave of “change,” but we doubt most voters realized that the change Democrats had in mind was making health care even more expensive and rigid than the […]
The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple is Just Fine
Wired has a good article on “The Good Enough Revolution.” Here’s the gist: “Entire markets have been transformed by products that trade power or fidelity for low price, flexibility, and convenience.”
Cost Versus Efficiency in Health Care
From economist Greg Mankiw’s blog: Advocates of government-run health insurance like to point to Medicare’s low administrative costs (which, as I noted yesterday, is a controversial claim). But even if that factual claim were true, the argument would hardly be dispositive as to the greater efficiency of a publicly run system. As I put it […]
The Value of Checklists — And One That Saved $200 Million and Then Was Banned
The NY Times has an interesting op ed piece by Atul Gawande (whom some have called “the Malcolm Gladwell of doctors”) called A Life Saving Checklist. (The piece is from December, 2007, but remains very relevant.) The article mentions that basic systems such as checklists have become essential to simplifying the complex task of providing […]