John R. Graham
California
California hospitals’ unhealthy dependence on government
While many Americans are eager for the U.S. Supreme Court this year to decide the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, a federal judge in Los Angeles has just made a misguided decision that cuts right to the root of the government’s role in controlling people’s access to ...
Commentary
What Are The Costs And Benefits of Patents for Prescription Drugs?
On January 23, the Wall Street Journal hosted an interesting debate between Josh Bloom, Phd, of the American Council on Science and Health, and Dr. Else Torreele of the Open Society Foundation. (The link is here, and was free when I last checked. If it disappears behind a wall, the ...
Medicaid
If Health Spending is Increasing Slower, Why Are Premiums Rising Faster?
Key Points: The rate of increase in private health spending has dropped significantly since the financial crisis hit in 2008, although government programs like Medicare and Medicaid have continued along their unsustainable path. However, administrative costs and private premiums began to increase immediately upon President Obama’s enacting the Patient Protection ...
Health Care
Over Regulation Reduces Choice in Health Insurance: An Update Health Policy Prescription
Key Points: Obamacare, signed in March 2010, has not reduced the rate of growth of health-insurance premiums, which increased by 20 percent in the small group market between 2008 and 2010. Obamacare subsidizes states to increase political control of health-insurance premiums, although there continues to be no evidence that such ...
Commentary
Shopping for Health Coverage Versus Shopping for Health Care
As I read the spirited debate over whether Obamacare will drive health insurers out of business (here and here), I wonder if we need to bring the discussion back to fundamentals: The key problem with U.S health insurance is that there is too much of it whether provided by ...
Commentary
Can the PayPal Mafia Fix Health Care?
Last week, the Health 2.0 venture Practice Fusion held its second annual Connect conference in San Francisco. Practice Fusion is an exciting business for a few reasons: It provides a free electronic health record (EHR) to physicians and allied health providers. Its completely independent of the legacy healthcare business. (Competitors ...
Business & Economics
A Pfizer Break Up? That Would Be Something
What I intend to contribute at The Apothecary is somewhat different than what you’ll read in my other media, because I’ll be bringing financial analysis to bear on the healthcare space (although not ignoring what the politicians and bureaucrats are doing, of course. Any healthcare enterprise’s success will depend largely ...
Commentary
Health Care Freedom: 2 Out of 3 Ain’t Bad
[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Yesterday’s victory in Arixona (55% to 45%) “upgrades” the previously passed statute to a constitutional amendment. Yesterday’s victory in Oklahoma (65% to 35%) overrides the incumbent governor’s previous veto. The measure was defeated in Colorado, but by a narrower margin of 47% to ...
Commentary
Perry’s Texas: Creating jobs, not Medicaid dependents
In a crowded field for the Republican presidential nomination, only two candidates have real records of achievement on healthcare reform: Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Romney fell for the conventional wisdom that Americans believe it is the government’s responsibility to ensure “universal” coverage. This resulted in ...
Commentary
Health Spending and the “Supercommittee”: Seven Items from President Obama that Republicans And Democrats Should Embrace
Key Points: Congress has a unique opportunity to make a clean cut in government health spending by Christmas. President Obama’s deficit-reducing proposal contains seven items that shift Medicare and Medicaid spending closer to the people. Although these items represent a small fraction of President Obama’s deficit-reducing proposal, they offer the ...
California hospitals’ unhealthy dependence on government
While many Americans are eager for the U.S. Supreme Court this year to decide the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, a federal judge in Los Angeles has just made a misguided decision that cuts right to the root of the government’s role in controlling people’s access to ...
What Are The Costs And Benefits of Patents for Prescription Drugs?
On January 23, the Wall Street Journal hosted an interesting debate between Josh Bloom, Phd, of the American Council on Science and Health, and Dr. Else Torreele of the Open Society Foundation. (The link is here, and was free when I last checked. If it disappears behind a wall, the ...
If Health Spending is Increasing Slower, Why Are Premiums Rising Faster?
Key Points: The rate of increase in private health spending has dropped significantly since the financial crisis hit in 2008, although government programs like Medicare and Medicaid have continued along their unsustainable path. However, administrative costs and private premiums began to increase immediately upon President Obama’s enacting the Patient Protection ...
Over Regulation Reduces Choice in Health Insurance: An Update Health Policy Prescription
Key Points: Obamacare, signed in March 2010, has not reduced the rate of growth of health-insurance premiums, which increased by 20 percent in the small group market between 2008 and 2010. Obamacare subsidizes states to increase political control of health-insurance premiums, although there continues to be no evidence that such ...
Shopping for Health Coverage Versus Shopping for Health Care
As I read the spirited debate over whether Obamacare will drive health insurers out of business (here and here), I wonder if we need to bring the discussion back to fundamentals: The key problem with U.S health insurance is that there is too much of it whether provided by ...
Can the PayPal Mafia Fix Health Care?
Last week, the Health 2.0 venture Practice Fusion held its second annual Connect conference in San Francisco. Practice Fusion is an exciting business for a few reasons: It provides a free electronic health record (EHR) to physicians and allied health providers. Its completely independent of the legacy healthcare business. (Competitors ...
A Pfizer Break Up? That Would Be Something
What I intend to contribute at The Apothecary is somewhat different than what you’ll read in my other media, because I’ll be bringing financial analysis to bear on the healthcare space (although not ignoring what the politicians and bureaucrats are doing, of course. Any healthcare enterprise’s success will depend largely ...
Health Care Freedom: 2 Out of 3 Ain’t Bad
[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Yesterday’s victory in Arixona (55% to 45%) “upgrades” the previously passed statute to a constitutional amendment. Yesterday’s victory in Oklahoma (65% to 35%) overrides the incumbent governor’s previous veto. The measure was defeated in Colorado, but by a narrower margin of 47% to ...
Perry’s Texas: Creating jobs, not Medicaid dependents
In a crowded field for the Republican presidential nomination, only two candidates have real records of achievement on healthcare reform: Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Romney fell for the conventional wisdom that Americans believe it is the government’s responsibility to ensure “universal” coverage. This resulted in ...
Health Spending and the “Supercommittee”: Seven Items from President Obama that Republicans And Democrats Should Embrace
Key Points: Congress has a unique opportunity to make a clean cut in government health spending by Christmas. President Obama’s deficit-reducing proposal contains seven items that shift Medicare and Medicaid spending closer to the people. Although these items represent a small fraction of President Obama’s deficit-reducing proposal, they offer the ...
