Category: Cost of Healthcare

The candidates on the campaign trail have their opinions about how to fix the Affordable Care Act (ACA), how to make health insurance marketplaces work better and how to get everybody insured. Every policy wonk and think tank in America has weighed in on the problem. Of course, their solutions are all in alignment with their institutional biases on how healthcare OUGHT to work in America.

Read more

It’s a beautiful day for fishing, and my old friend Ken (a very successful engineer in his mid-50s who just finished absorbing the cost of putting his two kids through college) and I are taking advantage of it. We usually talk shop a bit because we don’t see each other very often. This time, the conversation turns to insurance. Ken drops a pretty cast, turns to me and opens with this shot across my bow:

Read more

Editor’s Note: This is the second part of our interview with interim Blue Cross Medical Director Dr. Paul Murphree. 

Read more

There is no doubt that the advancement of medical technology is a very expensive business. Research into new drugs by the 10 biggest drug companies in 2013, for example, exceeded $66 billion in brand-new spending. That’s a whole lot of money that their investors and shareholders are willing to risk for the NEXT big drug. And this level of investment has actually been growing for about 20 years straight — even more so lately, as global capital is chasing its way into the United States looking for a strong return. A really strong target for this capital is the U.S. pharmaceutical industry.

Read more

“As I look back over my life, I realize a few things about a lifetime of being overweight.”

 

Read more

Since 2009, I’ve given more than 800 presentations in Louisiana alone on healthcare reform and cost trends. Almost all of these were to business audiences, whose benefit offerings have been drastically affected by healthcare reform.

Read more