Minor Thoughts

In today’s New York Times, David Leonhardt talks about the problem of health care choice. Specifically, the fact that most people don’t have any choice. He starts out making a lot of sense.

Health insurers often act like monopolies — like a cable company or the Department of Motor Vehicles — because they resemble …

Any bureaucracy — public or private — is going to make pointless decisions and complicate your life. This applies to health ”insurance” as much as it applies to anything else. It’s easy to find stories of people who were heartlessly treated by their health bureaucracy. In Britain, the bureaucracy is the government run NHS. In …

Russ Roberts reminds me about the difference between health care and health insurance — especially as it pertains to the elderly.

It’s the wrong question because when you’re 65 the problem isn’t getting insurance. It’s paying for health care. But the public debate has become so obsessed with health care insurance we’ve forgotten what …

Mr. HIStalk recently did a great interview with Dr. Jordan Shlain, founder of Current Health. It was a fantastic read. Here’s a sample:

I want to give you a softball question here, because I’ve seen your answer elsewhere, but I think it bears repeating. What’s wrong with the average patient-physician-insurance company relationship that’s common …

Last month, in a meeting at work, I listened to a presentation about medical billing and denials. During the presentation, the presenter made an offhand remark at insurance companies denying claims ”without ever seeing the patient or knowing what the needs are”. The unstated assumption was that a government run health plan would do a …

I haven’t been organized enough to write here for quite a while. I did, however, find some time to get into a discussion about health insurance over at Coyote Blog.

You may find it interesting.

State Children’s Health Insurance Program. It’s a program created by Congress to provide health insurance for children whose parents are too poor for private insurance, but too rich for Medicaid. It’s set to expire at the end of this month and Congress is fighting with President Bush over the terms of its renewal.

The House wants …

Reaping the whirlwind:

If prices are rising, that should be a signal to people and businesses to avoid settling in risky areas. The economic centre of the hurricane business is Florida, which is both the most vulnerable part of America and the most valuable. In 2004 the total value of insured coastal property in …

According to FoxNews, Mayor Ray Nagin said that New Orleans residents should be allowed to rebuild anywhere — as long as they do so at their own risk. Quoth the good mayor I don’t recommend you going in areas I’m not comfortable with. I’m confident that the citizens can decide intelligently for themselves..

Actually, I am …

Geico is being sued because of their actuarial policy:

A leading U.S. consumer group Monday accused Geico Corp. of using consumers’ education backgrounds and occupations as criteria in setting auto insurance rates, resulting in discrimination against minorities and lower-income people.

Geico, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the insurance and investment …