I use this space to work out ideas for papers and lectures, as well as the occasional oped. Comments--positive or negative--are more than welcome.
Monday, March 04, 2013
10 Things Your Law Firm Boss Wants You To Know, but Isn’t Going to Tell You « Above the Law: A Legal Web Site – News, Commentary, and Opinions on Law Firms, Lawyers, Law Schools, Law Suits, Judges and Courts + Career Resources
10 Things Your Law Firm Boss Wants You To Know: Good advice for everyone.
I think I'm in love
Ernest Moniz, MIT physicist, nominated as energy secretary - The Washington Post: I hate to agree with President Obama, but this guy just seems great, almost too good to be true. It seems that when Obama said he favored an "all of the above" energy strategy he meant it, at least if his nominee for Secretary of Energy is any indication.
Sunday, March 03, 2013
Why Do We Want Prices in Health Care? - The Daily Beast
Why Do We Want Prices in Health Care? - The Daily Beast: Megan McArdle talks with Nobel prize winning economist Bart Wilson about the role of prices in medical care and whether experts can do a better job than markets.
It's what we do know that an't so.....
Sequestration, Tea Party conspiracy?
Reich mentions something I have heard on occasion: that Medicare is more efficient than private insurance. I have not seen the study and Dr. Reich does not mention it but it is something I have heard before and I suspect that it is in some sense true. Since Medicare does no advertising and doesn't have to collect premiums (which is done for it by the IRS) all it has to do is cut checks. It is hard to see how Medicare would not be more efficient when measured purely by its payouts to administrative costs ratio. But is that the whole story?
It is hard to tell how efficient Medicare is because it is not a price taker, it is so large that it is a price maker. Indeed, it almost surely to some extent is a price maker and quantity increaser (though it also may do the exact opposite in some areas on some occasions). Indeed, since, largely thanks to the influence of government, there are few real price signals in the provision of medical care, it is hard to see how one would actually evaluate the efficiency of the Medicare program.
Reich mentions something I have heard on occasion: that Medicare is more efficient than private insurance. I have not seen the study and Dr. Reich does not mention it but it is something I have heard before and I suspect that it is in some sense true. Since Medicare does no advertising and doesn't have to collect premiums (which is done for it by the IRS) all it has to do is cut checks. It is hard to see how Medicare would not be more efficient when measured purely by its payouts to administrative costs ratio. But is that the whole story?
It is hard to tell how efficient Medicare is because it is not a price taker, it is so large that it is a price maker. Indeed, it almost surely to some extent is a price maker and quantity increaser (though it also may do the exact opposite in some areas on some occasions). Indeed, since, largely thanks to the influence of government, there are few real price signals in the provision of medical care, it is hard to see how one would actually evaluate the efficiency of the Medicare program.