Getting relatively simple procedures is much more expensive in the US than elsewhere.
Take the cost of an appendectomy:
Or having a baby:
Or having a baby by C-section, a more invasive procedure that is not only more expensive in the US than elsewhere, but is often more common:
These prices beg for government regulation!
If she had been eligible for Medicare, the hospital would have charged the government $10,000 for the services it provided to her, with Medicare picking up most of the tab. But lacking insurance, she was billed directly from the hospital, and not for a mere $10,000. The total charge: $120,000! That 1200% markup is extreme….
Recently, I got an incredibly nice email from a complete stranger. It began like this: “I am an Economics teacher in England and have just finished reading your wonderful book ‘Free Market Madness’. When you write a book that only 5 people read, it is nice that at least one person thinks it is wonderful….
A short video showing why our eating decisions are often not conscious, or wise.
In this video, part of a webcast being organized by Fuqua, I lay out some thoughts on the psychology of obesity. Check it out. I’ll post a Q and A video on this topic (with the Qs provided by Fuqua alums) in a couple weeks. Feel free to add your questions in the meantime, and I’ll try to cover them too!
Attention all you design and #nudge fans. Here is a graphic from ProPublica that attempts to help people choose a physician. Do you think it works? What would you do to improve it?
Came across this cool graphic, showing the rise and fall of U.S. cigarette consumption. The picture also shows when various policy levers were pulled, and how those levers track to consumption. WARNING: No proof of cause and effect. But still quite interesting.
Thanks again to the Kaiser Family Foundation for keeping all of us informed about important healthcare statistics. Here’s a relatively recent snapshot of how the percent of Americans lacking health insurance has fluctuated since the 1970s. The effect of Obamacare on the statistic is undeniable: