Comments on: Heterogeneity and Health Care

By: Huh?

Huh? — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 16:56:58 +0000

There are myriad national healthcare systems already designed and implemented, both in the US and abroad, working to various degrees of success but almost all beating the US private system. But of course you know this.

By: Peter Klein

Peter Klein — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 16:21:43 +0000

No intellectual dishonesty here, just a conviction that a national health care system is too complex to be designed and implemented by a small coterie of bureaucrats and lobbyists.

By: Huh?

Huh? — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:52:30 +0000

These terms and categories are quite familiar to anyone who has had to deal with medical insurance for actual medical needs, something you should consider yourself lucky you obviously have not, at least to the extent of actually having to read your benefits information.

While they obviously don’t go into extreme specifics, which is rightfully relegated to the department to administer*, the categories delineated do in fact render your point at the very least mortally diminished. You claim healthcare was considered as a nebulous nonspecific concept; this is clearly not the case and one can reference the level of care the CBO estimates are based on.

I don’t get it though, you complain the law isn’t specific enough yet decry definition and mandating via the law … this smacks of intellectual dishonesty. You seem to be making an argument you have no intention of honestly considering.

* To measure up to typical current plans, a pretty explicit point used in the reform debate.

By: Peter Klein

Peter Klein — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:17:32 +0000

You’re joking, right? “Emergency services.” (Which ones?) “Hospitalization.” (How long? What procedures? By whom?) “Prescription drugs.” (Any and all?) “Preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management.” (LMAO.) And you think these things should be defined and mandated at the Federal level? Hahahahahaha.

Actually, thanks for encouraging me to study the text of the bill more closely. It’s much worse than I thought.

By: Huh?

Huh? — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 14:35:09 +0000

Looks like section 1302 renders this musing moot; you really shouldn’t be referring back to this post in current discussions of healthcare — it is no longer relevant.

By: John David

John David — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:23:44 +0000

This is a terrific analysis, I hadn’t thought about it in this angle. I brought it up to a few socialists today, and their self-esteem fell thru the basement.

By: Economics and Health Care « Market Process Blog

Economics and Health Care « Market Process Blog — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:28:19 +0000

[...] be a shortage of health care providers. I thought Peter Klein had a good commentary this week about “Heterogeneity and Health Care.” These are areas and aspects of the issue that need to be discussed as this debate goes [...]

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:58:52 +0000

Many times the discussion is about “community health care,” whatever that is, and not about health care for the individual at all.

By: russcoff

russcoff — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:32:50 +0000

So glad to finally see your brilliant response ;-) Let me just echo raging agreement. We must unpack what we mean by healthcare in order to even begin to separate what types of health coverage would be considered a “right” from levels of coverage that are thought to be a “luxury.”

It is being sold to the public as though everyone will have access to every procedure, drug, or specialist that they want at the taxpayers’ expense. Of course, that is impossible…

By: Klein: “what is health care” ? « PublicOrgTheory

Klein: “what is health care” ? « PublicOrgTheory — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:01:48 +0000

[...] Klein unpacks the least-discussed given of the health care debate: Once we realize we are really talking about discrete, marginal units of particular goods and [...]