Category Archives: Healthcare

Healthcare Is Still Too Damn Expensive

Posted on August 8, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

And what that means for wages. By way of Axios, we come across this figure: Axios summarizes (boldface mine): Employers consider a block of compensation for every employee. Health insurance, which is exempt from taxes, has eaten up a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | 2 Comments

‘Losing’ Versus Replacing Your Insurance

Posted on July 22, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

One of the bad rhetorical moves by supporters of Medicare for All is refuting the notion of ‘losing your insurance.’ Here’s why (boldface mine): This strategy also underpins one popular political argument against Medicare for All and, often, in favor … Continue reading →

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Tens of Millions of People ‘Can’t Keep Their Doctor’

Posted on July 9, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

While I think a couple of the Democratic candidates (Sanders, Warren, Harris–though she seems to walk back a lot of her positions) might have gone too far in saying that there will be no private insurance*, healthcare conservatives really are … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | 2 Comments

How Not to Convene a Healthcare Commission Panel: The Mayor Bowser Edition

Posted on June 7, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

This came across the transom: .@MayorBowser is appointing a new commission to debate how to transform health care in the city. Former CM David Catania is co-chair. He’s also a lobbyist for Sibley Hospital and Unity Health Care. Bowser says … Continue reading →

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Privatization Is Theft

Posted on May 17, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

I occasionally snark about means-testing the public library: To use an absurd example, we could means test the public library, offer a series of different borrowing plans based on verified income and so on, or we could just… lend out … Continue reading →

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Cruelty As Ideology: The Mo Brooks Edition

Posted on May 16, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

A while ago, I noted that cruelty is not just a character flaw, but an ideology. Like all ideologies, cruelty is a force which gives people meaning: …consider, instead, healthcare. A fair number of conservatives don’t have a problem with … Continue reading →

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“Keeping Your Insurance”

Posted on March 28, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

Last week, Paul Krugman argued that a Medicare for America system would have the political advantage of letting people keep their healthcare if they want to do so. Leaving aside the problem that the polls used to determine if people … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | 3 Comments

Clueless Democrats Are Going To Be A Real Problem, Even If Things Go Well in 2020

Posted on March 11, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

Let’s be uncharacteristically optimistic about Democratic chances in 2020 and assume they take back the Senate and the White House. Even then, the biggest obstacle to good policy is going to be Democrats with outdated ideas of what their voters … Continue reading →

Posted in Democrats, Fucking Morons, Healthcare | 1 Comment

Keeping Policy Simple–For Those Who Experience It

Posted on February 19, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

One of the frustrating things about many policy debates is that there is too much emphasis on the details in political discussions: When it comes to healthcare policy, people don’t care about the API, they care about the GUI. In … Continue reading →

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The Corruption Of Medical Statistics

Posted on February 1, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

While the healthcare discussion makes it sound like we’re discussing actual healthcare, we’re really not. What we are discussing is healthcare insurance. And a bad reimbursement scheme, whether public or private, gives people lots of lucrative incentives, to goose the … Continue reading →

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