Tag Archives: health insurance

Will Obamacare Reduce the Crazy Variation in Hospital Prices?

Posted on Monday, May 20, 2013

If you have been paying attention to US healthcare policy debates lately, you know that hospitals have a price problem. Walk across the street from one hospital to a competitor hospital, and you could easily find yourself facing a $30,000 increase … Continue reading →

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Is the Penalty for Not Getting Health Insurance Too Small to Work?

Posted on Friday, May 3, 2013

As part of Obamacare, people are required to get health insurance or pay a penalty. That’s what’s known infamously as the individual mandate. But is the penalty too small to matter? For some people, the penalty might be as low … Continue reading →

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Health Insurance Exchange Decisions…So Far!

Posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013

The Obamacare law establishes what are known as “health insurance exchanges” to help people compare health insurance plans.  It is, when you think about it (heck: even when you DON’T think about it) a pro-market aspect of the law—it gets … Continue reading →

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Exciting New Breast Cancer Drug Poised to Break the Bank?

Posted on Monday, October 29, 2012

In exciting news for breast cancer patients, the FDA recently approved Perjeta, a new treatment for metastatic breast cancer that delays progression of the disease by six months.  But can we afford to offer this drug to every woman who could … Continue reading →

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Are Insurance Companies the Key to Lower Prices?

Posted on Monday, October 1, 2012

Two patients lie asleep on operating room tables, each with an inflamed appendix demanding to be relocated to a specimen jar.  Two operations take place, each one lasting close to fifty minutes, each one performed by an experienced surgeon at … Continue reading →

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