Amherst College: Healthcare Reform

[healthcare Suggested Reading]

eballard — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:29:01 +0000

Ellie Swain Ballard Friday, 10/23/2009, at 10:29 AM

Amherst Connects: The telephone Lecture Series

Walter E. Nicholson
Ward H. Patton Professor of Economics

and

Jessica W. Reyes '94
Associate Professor of Economics

"Economic Perspectives on Healthcare Reform"

May 5, 2010

Supplemental Reading materials and links

"Rethinking Social Insurance" --Martin Feldstein (pdf)
"Single Payer, Many Faults" --Joseph Rago (link to WSJ article)
"The Cost Conundrum" --Atul Gawande (The New Yorker)
"The Economic Case for Healthcare Reform"--Council of Economic Advisers

Listen to Audio of the Lecture

Online Forum - Your Questions

Below are some of the questions that we weren't able to address during the call. Continue the conversation online with one another - login and click "add a comment" to respond to a question, or submit your own question.

Question from Bruce Lessels '83

eballard — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:28:10 +0000

Question from Bruce Lessels '83 Ellie Swain Ballard Thursday, 5/6/2010, at 9:28 PM

Would a single payer system be likely to control/reduce costs more effectively than the reform that was passed?

Question from Roger Hull '59

eballard — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:27:18 +0000

Question from Roger Hull '59 Ellie Swain Ballard Thursday, 5/6/2010, at 9:27 PM

How do we move from a primarily "fee for service" system to the Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Models for Healthcare delivery?

Question from Gene Nogi '02

eballard — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:26:31 +0000

Question from Gene Nogi '02 Ellie Swain Ballard Thursday, 5/6/2010, at 9:26 PM

Many healthcare and finance experts have estimated that the true costs of healthcare reform are at least $1 trillion understated. What economic benefit in this legislation justifies the expense?

Question from Mark Nadel '78

eballard — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:25:19 +0000

Question from Mark Nadel '78 Ellie Swain Ballard Thursday, 5/6/2010, at 9:25 PM

Shouldn’t insurance companies be doing more to:

1. widely publicize the specific procedures that the Dartmouth study finds have questionable value

2. offer to pay their customers a small reward for forgoing such procedures

3. provide charts revealing the differing prices and consumer comments about using different doctors or hospitals to handle specific medical problems and

4. offering higher reimbursements to customers who choose lower cost providers (who, presumably, will often produce the same or better results as higher cost providers)

Question from Cheryl Zaccagnino, Parent '12

eballard — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:49:48 +0000

Question from Cheryl Zaccagnino, Parent '12 Ellie Swain Ballard Thursday, 5/6/2010, at 9:49 PM

How will technology be used under healthcare reform to automate health records and expand performance measurement to ensure better outcomes? Impact on jobs creation for technology and other professionals ? Where to find more information on this topic?

Question from John McKenzie '66

eballard — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:21:54 +0000

Question from John McKenzie '66 Ellie Swain Ballard Thursday, 5/6/2010, at 9:21 PM

Please comment on the nomination of Donald Berwick to oversee the implementation of the recent health care bill.

Question from Michael Chen '08

eballard — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:20:49 +0000

Question from Michael Chen '08 Ellie Swain Ballard Thursday, 5/6/2010, at 9:20 PM

In response to Reyes: I've always understood that even though we have high cost/low-value health care options, they generally fall under the "experimental" category of health care. As such, shouldn't they also provide some value by acting as a sort of field research? I've been under the assumption that though American heathcare is more expensive, it's also the most advanced. As such, like any R&D department, shouldn't we expect it to be costly and with a lot of failed experiments, but worth it overall for the "golden nuggets" that we may get? Would having a more equitable healthcare system risk our position as the leader in health care innovation?

Question from Thomas Suher '71

eballard — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:17:18 +0000

Question from Thomas Suher '71 Ellie Swain Ballard Thursday, 5/6/2010, at 9:17 PM

Thanks for the discussion and the recommended readings. It seems that the major thrust for the recent healthcare legislation was focused and certainly “marketed” on health insurance reform and everyone from the President to Secretary Sibelius to the Congressional leaders to many economists have asserted that as long as we get the insurance companies to behave, we will generally be in good shape and will largely address problems of cost growth and accessibility. This doesn’t seem to be supported by the readings (especially the New Yorker article) or by the comments made thus far and in fact doesn’t seem to be logical.