Vox is embroiled in a bit of controversy because the online magazine solicited an article from a Swedish philosopher, Torbjorn Tannsjo, endorsing the repugnant conclusion and then decided that Tannsjo’s conclusions were too repugnant to publish. My advice is to…
Yearly Archives: 2015
Raising Medicare’s eligibility age would increase US health spending
There has been a longstanding debate in America between groups that want to expand Medicare and Social Security versus groups that want to cut these enormous federal social programs. Ronald Reagan did both. In in 1983, Reagan raised taxes to…
Posted in Health
Health insurance companies deny too many claims.
Health insurance companies deny claims because they are trying to save themselves the money, but this just increases overall costs because it increases administrative costs for the providers and the patients who have to sort out how to get payments. …
Posted in Health
Wacky healthcare prices in America.
In a well-functioning market, the Law of One Price should hold true. The law says that the price of a barrel of oil should be approximately the same all around the world plus some adjustment for transportation costs which are…
Posted in Health
How Ronald Reagan’s secret entitlement program will eventually end homelessness.
Which is the cheapest accommodation? A one-room apartment. A jail. A hospital room. Which is the cheapest labor? A social worker. A criminal-justice worker (police, lawyer, judge, etc.) A healthcare professional (doctor, nurse, etc.) For both questions, #1 is the…
Ronald Reagan is one of the main architects of the US welfare system.
Most people think Ronald Reagan cut the US welfare system. Reagan did cut anti-poverty and education programs, but overall, he greatly expanded the US welfare system by increasing resources for pensions and healthcare. Reagan increased funding for these programs more…
Posted in Health
The connection between exceptionally low US social spending and exceptionally high healthcare spending.
Social spending is a ‘normal good‘ which means that richer countries (and richer people) spend more money on it. One of the odd facts about the United States is that we spend a lot more of our income on healthcare…
Posted in Health
Medianism 