ARNOLD KLING
August 14, 2011
The Top Political Contributors
August 11, 2011
Gender and the New Commanding Heights
August 11, 2011
Jamie Galbraith Makes an Assumption
August 11, 2011
Macroeconometrics: The Science of Hubris
August 10, 2011
Real and Nominal Bond Yields
BRYAN CAPLAN
August 14, 2011
The Effect of Thumb Sucking on Income
August 12, 2011
The Voice of Cold, Hard Truth to All Would-Be Educators
August 12, 2011
Ability, Morality, and Prosperity: A Paper and a Report
August 11, 2011
The Theory of Time and Frittering
August 10, 2011
Male Variance and the Remnants of the Gender Gap
DAVID HENDERSON
August 9, 2011
Hayek in "Unbroken", Part Two
August 8, 2011
Hayek in "Unbroken"
August 5, 2011
James Bovard on the Peace Corps
August 4, 2011
Summers Way Off on FDR and 1941
August 3, 2011
The "Amazon" Tax
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How unfortunate Ezra Klein only learns these obvious facts after the health care reform act passed. One would think he owes the rest of us an apology, and a column saying we should repeal it.
Here is a depressing example of some old, well-established empirical knowledge being repeated--and to deaf ears. Out of all the factors that contribute to the variation in health status between individuals, health care consumption accounts for about 5%. So why is real spending 17% of GDP in the US, and why is it even 10% in Canada? Even that it is too high.
Prior to PPACA, the US health care system was like an eighteen-wheeler speeding toward the edge of a cliff. Now it has been wisely redirected so the truck is speeding toward a brick wall, though the wall has a pretty Disney mural on it.
You probably would get more bang for the buck, but there is almost certainly an upper limit to what could be accomplished by this method. It isn't easy to make people more intelligent.
Is there a high correlation between income and literacy?
Some good comments on the Canadian health study, by Dr. Liberty:
http://bit.ly/hLzENr and http://bit.ly/ii3SDD
"My guess is that if you want to improve health outcomes in the United States, ignore health insurance and focus on literacy."
To that I'd add critical thinking skills.
To that I'd add critical thinking skills.
Let's not get overly ambitious.
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Increases in life expectancy follows GDP increases closely and are independent of medical discoveries.
This is in part because rich people can afford more health care, but mostly because they live healthier lifes.
How unfortunate @mark was unable to follow the link Ezra Klein provided to the essay he wrote in 2009, titled "Fixing our health-care system will make us more economically secure. It won't make us much healthier." Perhaps @mark would benefit from a literacy intervention?
You may want to look at these reports from the World Health Organization, European Union and the UK that describe determinants of health and some possible interventions:
http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/98438/e81384.pdf
http://www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/finalreport/en/index.html
http://www.marmotreview.org/
[shortened urls replaced with complete urls. Please do not use bit.ly urls on EconLog. We are not hardpressed to save space, and our readers prefer to know what will happen if they click a link. --Econlib Ed.]