Career Politician Waxman To Retire

After cashing $4,300,000 worth of welfare checks Mr. Henry Waxman will retire next month from his position in Congress.  

So what was Waxman all about?

Texas' Biggest Welfare Recipients

Dr. Reuben Elovitz, Welfare Recipient 

Thankfully more researchers are sifting through the data on who collects Medicare taxes.  The Texas Tribune published a table of the greatest Medicare welfare recipients in Texas...

Medicare Data Shines Light on Billions Paid to TX Doctors

Highlights from the research:

• 342 Texas doctors were paid over $1 million by Medicare in 2012
• 20 doctors hauled in over $3 million annually from Medicare
• Missing context like doctor's costs and number of patients treated make the data incomplete

4 Steps to Boost Willpower

Do you ever find yourself lacking motivation?  It turns out there are 4 basic steps that when taken are proven to boost willpower.  

Kelly McGonigal explains how your physical lifestyle effects your brain functions...

4 Steps to Boost Willpower:

1. Sleep
2. Meditation
3. Physical Exercise
4. Low-glycemic, plant-based diet

A New Stereotype: The Well Behaved Teenager

New data from The Centers for Disease Control suggests that teenagers are getting into far less trouble than they used to.

Exhibit A:
 

Exhibit B: Teen abortion rates have dropped by half since 1990.*

Exhibit C: Alcohol use is way down.

Exhibit D: Exercising is more popular than cigarettes among young adults.

*according to Guttmacher Institute 

Find more details and analysis of the well behaved teenager at Vox.

Can Math Solve the Nursing Shortage?

A survey published by UNISON reports that 2/3 of nurses working at the National Health Service in England do not have enough time with their patients.  With half of NHS nurses taking care of 8 patients per day it's clear they are overworked and understaffed.

One nurse commented:

“My department is running at VERY UNSAFE levels due to inadequate staffing.”

The major theme coming out of the survey is that demand for nursing services outstrips the supply of nurses.

In response to this nursing shortage, union boss Gail Adams pleaded:

"The Coalition Government needs to face up to the damage it is inflicting on patients and staff, by not introducing legally enforceable nurse to patient ratios, and take urgent action.”

A legal dictate which increases the nurse to patient ratio would reduce the workload of existing nurses.  But this is a local solution to a global problem.  

Adams is totally ignoring both halves of the real issue which is that supply of nursing services is not keeping pace with patient demand.  Basic math tells us that to create a balance there needs to be an increase in nursing services, a decrease in patient demand or a combination of the two.

My proposal?  Anyone in England who wants to offer nursing services should not be interfered with by the state.  Anyone in England who wishes to contract for nursing services should be free to do so.

Finally, a voluntary-market for healthcare services makes politicians, NHS and taxes redundant.

Legal Drugs Can Kill Too

Thanks primarily to steps taken toward decriminalization and legalization of marijuana, the price of the plant has fallen dramatically.  Over the last five years alone the price decline has been 75% leading Mexican farmers to cease planting pot.

According to The Washington Post:

“It’s not worth it anymore,” said Rodrigo Silla, 50, a lifelong cannabis farmer who said he couldn’t remember the last time his family and others in their tiny hamlet gave up growing mota. “I wish the Americans would stop with this legalization.”

Even bigger beneficiaries than farmers of the plant were the drug cartels who grew strong over the past four decades because of the U.S. war on drugs.

Also, in regards to the massive boost in heroin demand by American drug users The Post notes:

Although prescription painkillers remain more widely abused and account for far more fatal overdoses, heroin has been “moving all over the country and popping up in areas you didn’t see before,” said Carl Pike, a senior official in the Special Operations Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Do you think there is any connection between mass state interference in the prescription drug trade and high rates of overdose?  In response to this health crisis could we see one city or county nullifying FDA statutes in the search for greater freedom and safety for their sick people?

Capitalism and Healthcare Services, A Great Mix!

The Huffington Post tips it's hat to capitalism in India.  David Bank writes about free-market healthcare services:

The health care startups are driving down costs for eye care, dental care, preventive screenings and all manner of basic procedures in order to bring private health services to smaller cities and towns, and to the five-sixths of Indians with household income below 200,000 Indian rupees, or about $3,325 a year.

Only capitalism can provide high quality services at a low price.  Let's hope this trend towards economic freedom in India continues.

Check out Bank's full post titled "Investing in Private Health Care for All in India" here.

Economic Freedom for Food Trucks?

David Lazarus issues a warning about food truck safety in the Los Angeles Times:

If you dine alfresco in L.A. County, you're taking your chances.

Lazarus has spotted a problem.  A couple bought hot dogs from a food truck and came down with stomach issues.

That's two people with stomach problems.

How many food trucks are there in Los Angeles? 3,200.    

Thankfully Lazarus has found a solution to this perceived problem.  It has something to do with the people calling themselves "Department of Public Health" increasing the number of food inspections.

Alas, Mr. Lazarus himself admits that these very same people are part of a "bureaucratic kudzu".

Why would he have faith in them to break out of their messy bureaucracy and become the market leader in food safety inspections?  

Who Collects That 3% Medicare Tax?

We've known for a long time exactly who pays the Medicare tax but thanks to newly released Medicare payment information we are able to confirm the primary collectors of Medicare taxes, namely doctors and medical equipment suppliers.  

I've written before about Medicaid and Medicare taxes being a subsidy for the U.S. healthcare industry.  Thanks to Bloomberg.com for providing a great chart breaking down the primary Medicare benefactors, check it out here.

The top five provider specialties haul in the bulk of the Medicare tax dollars.  The pack is led by internal medicine specialists which cost Medicare almost $9 billion in 2012.  Medicare taxpayers are supporting over 90,000 six-figure salary jobs among internal medicine doctors alone.

In addition to the run of the mill wealthy ($100,000 jobs) Medicare is supplying about 4,000 doctors with a cool million dollar annual paycheck.

Ask yourself who receives the greatest benefit from the Medicare tax?    

College Endowment Funds in Perspective

Harvard University's endowment fund value has passed $32 billion.

The National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund Institute released endowment values of colleges across the U.S. and Canada.  Here are the most richly valued endowment funds from the study:

1. Harvard - $32 billion
2. Yale - $21 billion
3. University of Texas - $20 billion
4. Stanford - $19 billion
5. Princeton - $18 billion

So how much is $32 billion?  One of the largest health insurance companies in the world is Aetna.  They employ 48,000 people and have over 22 million members.  The total value of Aetna is $27 billion.  

Harvard University is worth $5 billion more than Aetna.      

Is Practicing Medicine a "Right"?

Don Boudreaux has written a great article at Cafe Hayek titled "Who Licenses the Licensers?".  One important quote in the piece:

People are not generally stupid when spending their own money on themselves and their loved ones.

The right to offer medicine and healing services is literally a matter of life and death.  The state simply wants to promote that it is a privilege to practice medicine.

These propagandists are incorrect.  Doctors and nurses don't need to ask an agent of the state for permission to offer healthcare services to consenting adults.