Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Bravery in Politics

When Paul Ryan released his Medicare plan it was called brave. I don't think so. It's not brave to exempt over 55s, your main constituency, from any cuts. Republican Senator Tom Coburn's plan is brave. Paul Ryan's plan is calculated and cynical.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Yes! In Health Care It's the Supply Side

Karl Smith makes a good supply side argument.

We already have the most highly paid doctors in the world, yet it's not enough because we are still projected to have a shortage of doctors; short almost 100,000 by 2020 according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. We also can't continue to raise the pay of doctors while preserving access to health care for most Americans.

A good step in the right direction is to let Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants transition to primary care physicians after a few years working under a doctor.