Rose Director Friedman
1911-2009
We lost a dear friend last week: Rose Director Friedman. I first met Milton and Rose when I was teaching at Dartmouth College almost 30 years ago. We remained friends throughout their lives. Rose and Milton attended the NCPA's 15th Anniversary dinner and allowed me to interview them. They spoke kindly about the work of the NCPA and other free-market groups that evening and also challenged us to continue the fight for liberty. As on many other occasions, it was obvious to all in attendance how important she was to the couple's 68-year collaboration. America and the world are much richer for Rose Friedman's contributions, and it should be a challenge to all of us to continue the monumental legacy that she and Milton left. The world is a very different and much better place because she was a part of it.
Today I’m going to give you access to a paper with as many as 100 references that you almost never see cited in Health Affairs, or in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), or in the New England Journal (at least not in their public policy articles). In fact, if you are a regular reader of these publications, I think you are going to be very surprised.
My colleagues Linda Gorman, Devon Herrick, Robert Sade and I discovered that public policy articles in the leading health journals (especially the health policy journals) tend to cite poorly done studies over and over again in support of two propositions: (1) Our health care system needs radical reform and (2) the reform needs to be modeled along the lines of the systems of other developed countries. At the same time, these articles tend to ignore contravening studies – often published in economics journals and subject to much more rigorous peer review.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkwJ-g0iJ6w
I can see clearly now
Continue reading The Rest of the Story →
Whereas a well-baby visit to a pediatrician might only require a 10-minute office visit and be reimbursed by private insurance paying market rates, a senior enrolled in Medicare who has multiple problems might require an appointment lasting half an hour or more just to monitor all the health concerns. And Medicare pays about 30% less than private insurers, despite the fact the office visit takes twice as long. No wonder doctors run from such patients.
Yet, for upfront fees ranging from $500 to $15,000 per year, patients can now have the undivided attention of physicians willing to allot them all the time they need to navigate the health care system. Concierge physician practices can do this because they limit their practice to only a few hundred patients willing to pay large, upfront fees. [link]
Uwe Reinhardt thinks this is consumer directed fire service. I think it's entirely political. The victims are offering to donate to the mayor's reelection campaign.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EftuTUzwfA&fmt=18
It's amazing what the free market can do:
Patients will no longer have to wait a month to see a doctor for an urgent sore throat, wait all day for a doctor to return their call or leave work midday and drive a long distance for a routine appointment. Instead, patients will log on to their computers and find themselves face-to-face with physicians over Webcam.
They also have electronic medical records and malpractice insurance. Medicare patients need not apply.
Full story here. NCPA summary here.
Health Care Policy and Reform Insights | NCPA