09/28/2011
Aaron CarrollStarting tonight, I’ll be celebrating Rosh Hashanah with my family. Then, starting Friday afternoon, I’ll be heading out on a long-needed vacation with my wife and friends to NYC. I’ll be there until Tuesday.
Because of this, I may not be as present over the next few days. I may still blog, and I may still check in, but no promises.
Both my wife and I have birthdays this week, and we are celebrating with some amazing meals over the weekend. My food-based posts seem to be popular, so if the mood strikes me, I may share some stories with you.
Most important, let me say, “L’shana tova” to any of our readers who are celebrating the new year at this time. May your coming year be better than the last one. I’m very grateful for your reading this blog and participating in the conversation.
by David R on September 28th, 2011 at 19:37
Enjoy your holiday and when you come back we need some posts on the Kaiser study on private insurance, which rose 9% in the past year.
1. Is this a one year anomaly or a firm trend?
2. Does this confirm that the private health insurance industry cannot control costs and thus contradicts the premise of Mr. Ryan’s Medicare proposal?
3. With the costs of insuring a family of 4 now over $15,000 a year, does this mean the beginning of the end of employer supported private health insurance?
4. Have any of the Obama reforms been responsible for this latest increase?
5. Does the post on the building (overbuilding?) of children’s hospitals illustrate part of the problm or that too small a part of the total to matter?
6. Doesn’t this large an increase indicate health care delivery and the health care business model must be fundamentally changed?
7. Is health care the next “bubble” to burst in the economy, with large increases in the fixed costs of providing care unable to be met by resources devoted to paying for health care, leaving bankrupt health care providers and institutions?
Just some questions some of us feel need to be answered, and this Forum seems to have a number of people capable of doing so.
by Austin Frakt on September 28th, 2011 at 20:30
I have a post in the works. Meanwhile see http://j.mp/mZ4BRW. Quickly though,
1. These things are cyclical: http://t.co/AKnVbkce, http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/premiums-should-not-be-going-up-as-fast/, http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/medical-loss-ratios/ .
2. It has already been established. See http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/private-vs-public-health-care-cost-control-faq/
3. It’s already been eroding: http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/?p=14538
4. Hardly! See the first link I provided.
5. Don’t know, but it is indicative of one class of problems: http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/the-effect-of-hospital-market-concentration-on-hospital-prices-faq/
6. We already knew that the system needs fundamental change.
7. I doubt it will burst. I think it’ll gradually leak gas.