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Last month, Jill Quadagno was invited to present her take on the US healthcare system, specifically addressing the question ‘why do so many Americans not have healthcare?’, to a group of leading Democratic senators. Prof. Quadagno has graciously allowed us to publish the text of her presentation below. A few years ago my friend Connie’s […]
by Jill Quadagno Last year 46 million Americans were uninsured and health care costs continued their inexorable upward climb. These two problems, rising costs and increasing numbers of uninsured people, have bedeviled every president since Nixon, each of whom has sought solutions by regulating health care providers and insurance companies. In his State of the […]
by Jill Quadagno Last year nearly a million more people were uninsured compared to the year before. The employer-based system that most people of working age have relied on since the 1950s is unraveling at the seams. Each year for more than a decade the percentage of employers offering health benefits has declined. The only […]
Resolute we are, usually from January 1st, until just about now, right around Martin Luther King Day. Perhaps it is no coincidence that our individual, personal resolve founders just as we’re celebrating a holiday commemorating one of America’s great heroes—a man who was committed to combating the systemic forces at the heart of so many individual troubles.
Some items of note from the weekend… Tim Harford, aka The Undercover Economist, gave Slate.com readers a peek behind the Starbucks curtain on Friday. Careful OUP Blog readers may recognize Harford’s economizing tip (we gave you a link to it back in November): Ask for a “short” at the counter and you’ll save money. Harford […]
The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina exposed an array of glaring deficiencies in America’s infrastructure – the slow response from FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security and the fragile state of the New Orleans levees are perhaps the most prominent. But, according to Jill Quadagno, the most imposing challenge brought to light by Katrina […]
The Wall Street Journal features a review of Terrors of the Table by Walter Gratzer today (Normally, WSJ Online is by subscription only, but it is open to anyone this week, so enjoy!). Gratzer’s book comes on a swell of anti-diet-faddism and gives the long view of how things like the Atkins and South Beach […]
– by Jill Quadagno Hank at Insureblog has written a thought-provoking review of my book, One Nation, Uninsured. I appreciate his willingness to take on this task and welcome the opportunity to engage in a debate about how we finance health care in this country. First, let’s consider Hank’s claim that I consider our current […]
The good people over at InsureBlog.com have finished their review of One Nation, Uninsured by Jill Quadagno. It is, on the whole, a reasonable treatment of Prof. Quadagno’s work from the opposite side of the debate. A debate that, in the end, boils down to one fundamental question, which InsureBlog formulates this way: Where is […]
Katharine A. Phillips, MD, will discuss body dismorphic disorder (BDD) tonight, November 8, on CNN with Paula Zahn.with Oprah Winfrey today. Body dysmorphic disorder (or BDD) is a relatively common, often severe, and underrecognized body image disorder. It consists of distressing or impairing preoccupations with perceived flaws in one’s appearance. People with BDD are obsessed […]
In the comments section of Jill Quadagno’s 08.04.05 post, Gordon Brown wrote: “Over half of the acclaimed 40,000,000 uninsured are that way by choice. Financial choice that is. The same people that say they can’t afford health insurance because of family rates between $300 and $700/mo per family….have between over $1000/mo in auto expenses, the […]
The revelation in recent articles in the Seattle Times and follow-up articles and editorials in the New York Times about clinical investigators who were being paid $200 – $1000 for giving advice and opinions to investment firms is just another example of how blind some physicians are, either consciously or subconsciously, to how their financial […]
I want to respond to Terry’s comments on my earlier post, “A critical national competitiveness issue” (Click here to read full post and comments.) You wrote: “Which nation is more competitive [than] the US that has universal health care? When has socialism been more efficient at providing a service people need? Socialism? That’s the same […]
"This rapidly rising health care burden is not, in fact, unique to GM — it is a critical national competitiveness issue for the United States, affecting our entire economy’s long- term strength. It’s clear that the health care crisis could benefit from stronger leadership by governments at all levels, and by business, and consumers, too […]