Tuesday, July 28, 2009

"Health Care Mythology"

Excellent post by Cliff Asness that it deserves its own spot on my blog :)

Health Care Mythology
By Clifford Asness

What We Know That Ain't So


Will Rogers famously said, "It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so."[1] So it is with the health care debate in this country. Quite a few "facts" offered to the public as truth are simply wrong and often intentionally misleading. It seems clear that no truly productive solution will emerge when these false facts represent our common starting point. So, this essay takes on the modest task of simply disabusing its readers of some untrue notions about health care.

I do not take on the harder task of prescribing how we should (and if we should) reform health care, though I offer a few thoughts. Important work must be done here by those who understand, far better than I, the details of health care provision. However, no details are necessary for this essay, and no animals (though perhaps some egos) were harmed in its creation. The fallacies I present are basic and it takes only a rational economic framework to expose them... (full post)

Related news:
"CBO deals new blow to health plan" Politico

"Dean: ‘What’s the point of having a 60 vote majority’ if you can’t pass health reform?" ThinkProgress

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