by joeflower | May 23, 2012 | Future Hospital Industry, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Management, Healthcare Policy, Top Healthcare Stories, Uncategorized, Universal Healthcare
We are entering the season of presidential politics, of bunting and cries of “What about the children?” and star-spangled appeals to full-throated patriotism. So here’s mine: Do you count yourself a patriot? Do you care about the future of this country? (And while we...
by joeflower | Apr 24, 2012 | Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Insurance, Healthcare Reform, Top Healthcare Stories
I’ve been saying it for years (and in 3D and Technicolor in my new book Healthcare Beyond Reform): The Standard Model of Healthcare (the traditional unmodified fee-for-service, commodified, defined-benefit payment system) is broken and doomed. It’s...
by joeflower | Mar 27, 2012 | Future Hospital Industry, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Management, Healthcare Reform, Systems Thinking, Top Healthcare Stories
In 1980, health care in the United States took no more of a bite out of the economy than it did in any other developed country. Then we instituted cost controls. By 2000, U.S. health care cost twice as much as everyone else’s. By 2020 or 2025, we may be back to...
by joeflower | Mar 19, 2012 | Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Insurance, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Reform, Top Healthcare Stories, Universal Healthcare
One of the most common ideas in the whole healthcare financing discussion is a moral one. Why, people say, should my taxes and my healthcare premiums go to take care of the huge medical problems of people who don’t take care of themselves? As one commenter on...