Posts Tagged ‘healthcare’

Coronavirus Crisis: U.S. States & Local Government Financial Challenges, and Impact on Public Health

May 14, 2020 | State government finances

State and Local Government Financial Challenges Caused by the Coronavirus Crisis, and Impact on Public Health ETIENNE DEFFARGES The U.S. government has provided a lot of financial relief to American households, small and large businesses, and hospitals to help mitigate the devastating economic and health impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The CARES Act totals nearly …

When Will We Know If Lifting Coronavirus Lockdowns Is “Working?”

May 10, 2020 | Lockdown

When will we know if lifting lockdowns is “working,” and what would prompt us to fall back into additional lockdowns? In the countries and U.S. states that implemented well crafted “reopening” plans, the scientific and medical criteria that convinced their governments it was safe to lift lockdowns to allow their people to go back …

A Very Relevant Question in Times of Pandemic: Can Medicare for All Work?

April 30, 2020 | Medicare for All

Can Medicare for All Work? With U.S. voters consistently putting healthcare at the very top of their concerns, it is no surprise that Medicare for All (MFA) has garnered a lot of attention during the very competitive 2020 Democratic presidential primary. In terms of definition, let’s keep it simple and assume that MFA means a …

A Week in March in the U.S. During the Coronavirus Pandemic

March 25, 2020 | Coronavirus

A Week in March During the Coronavirus Pandemic March 17, 2020: Why “flatten the curve” is a big deal in the Coronavirus crisis Several recent studies have shown the “infection adoption” curve at the outset of the Coronavirus pandemic to be very similar in China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, France and Germany. Apart …

Effective Strategies to Reduce Costs and Utilization in US Healthcare

March 24, 2020 | Economy

How to Reduce US Healthcare Costs (Published March 18, 2020) Our healthcare costs keep increasing much faster than inflation, year after year. According to figures released in December 2019 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the annual growth rate of healthcare spending was 4.6% in 2018, vs. 3.9% in 2017, 4.8% …

The Future of Healthcare: Interview Published in Authority Magazine on June 5, 2019

June 14, 2019 | Healthcare

The Future of Healthcare: “We must free medicare to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies” with Etienne Deffarges, serial healthcare entrepreneur Christina D. Warner Jun 5 Cut the cost of drugs. We need to stop protecting our pharmaceutical companies by freeing their largest purchaser, Medicare, to negotiate with them, and allowing lower-cost imports from reputable countries. U.S. Drug …

Is Complexity in Healthcare Killing Us?

May 17, 2018 | Healthcare

We spend almost $10,000 per year per capita in healthcare, about twice as much as the average developed economy. However, we get little for what we spend: in terms of major health outcomes, such as infant mortality or life expectancy, we rank below most other developed nations. Why? Among other reasons, complexity explains why we …

Why I Wrote “Untangling the USA…”

May 17, 2018 | Book

Tom Brady and the “tuck rule.” “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” “The financial world has become way too complicated and very secretive.” What could Tom Brady, Donald Trump, and Michael Lewis possibly have in common? Complexity. Lewis has analyzed it; Trump has discovered it; Brady has benefited from it. And the USA is entangled …