Hsieh Forbes OpEd: What The US Can Learn From the Australian Health Care Debate

My latest OpEd is now up at Forbes: "What The US Can Learn From the Australian Health Care Debate".

Here is the opening:

Is it fair to ask a patient to pay $6 for emergency medical care? Or are patients entitled to free medical care whenever they need it? That's the question Australian government officials are currently grappling with.

As the Australian health care unfolds, there are two lessons for Americans -- one political and one philosophical.

For more details, read the full text of "What The US Can Learn From the Australian Health Care Debate".

(And thanks to WhiteCoat's Call Room for the link to one of the Australian news stories on this topic!)

Young Invincibles Killing Obamacare?

Megan McArdle argues that, "Young Invincibles Are Killing Obamacare".

She notes that more young, healthy people (who are necessary for the system to work) are signing up.  But not enough.

The 10 Types of ER Patients

Slate has a pretty good article on "The 10 Types of ER Patients: If you fall into one of these categories, here’s how to improve your care".

Armstrong on Problems With Prescription Drug Monitoring

Ari Armstrong discusses how, "Prescription drug monitoring punishes the responsible for the sake of the irresponsible". (Greely Tribune, 3/12/2014).

Here's the opening of his piece:

Prescription drug abuse is a serious problem, sometimes a fatal one. But the answer is not for the government to monitor and harass people who suffer from devastating pain -- and make it harder for them to manage their pain -- in a misguided attempt to save drug abusers from themselves. Unfortunately, that is precisely the effect of House Bill 1283, sponsored by Rep. Beth McCann of Denver...

Light Posting

I realize my blogging has been pretty light lately. This current semi-hiatus will likely continue through the rest of the week due to external obligations.

 I hope to be back in action next week!