How Common Has Private Currency Been?
Lawrence H. WhiteRecently, an investment advisor and Bitcoin proponenttweeted the claim that “[f]or most of human history” the “[s]eparation of money and state was the norm, even if the state stamped their ruler’s face on the coin.” Some strong disagreement (and some strong support) followed the tweet. The mostcategorical criticism asserted: “Money is and always has been a creation of government. ” A somewhat milder challenge asserted that “Private moneys have seldom been main media of exchange.”First, let ’s clarify the object of the discussion. If we define “money” the way that economist...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 16, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Lawrence H. White Source Type: blogs
Commentators and Journalists Weigh In On Digital Health And Related Privacy, Safety, Social Media And Security Matters. Lots Of Interesting Perspectives - August 16, 2022.
-----This weekly blog is to explore the news around the larger issues around Digital Health, data security, data privacy, AI / ML. technology, social media and related matters.I will also try to highlightADHA Propagandawhen I come upon it.Just so we keep count, the latest Notes from the ADHA Board were dated 6 December, 2018 and we have seen none since! It ’s pretty sad!Note: Appearance here is not to suggest I see any credibility or value in what follows. I will leave it to the reader to decide what is worthwhile and what is not! The point is to let people know what is being said / published that I have come upon.-----h...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - August 16, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs
Long COVID cardiac studies: More questions than answers.
BY ANISH KOKA
The NIH recently announced $1.2 billion dollars in funding for research on Long COVID. This is in part because of a faction of scientists that have mined electronic health record databases to find evidence that the long term impacts of COVID on a variety of different organ systems is significant.
I have some concerns when it comes to the cardiac complications discussed related to Long COVID.
One of Dr. Al-Aly’s long COVID papers illustrates the issues with using large datasets to differentiate signal from noise. The authors used the US Department of Veterans Affairs national healthcare datab...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 15, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy cardiac long covid studies NIH Source Type: blogs
Phonics, Failure, and the Public Schools
David BoazCould the public schools finally be " following the science " on how to teach reading? It would be about time. Dana Goldsteinreports in the New York Times:For decades, Lucy Calkins has determined how millions of children learn to read. An education professor, she has been a pre-eminent leader of “balanced literacy,” a loosely defined teaching philosophy.In a classic Calkins classroom, teachers read aloud from children ’s literature; students then chose “just right” books, which fit their interests and ability. The focus was more on stories — theme, character, plot — less on sounding out words.Her cu...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 11, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: David Boaz Source Type: blogs
The Macro View – Health, Economics, and Politics and the Big Picture. What I Am Watching Here And Abroad.
August 11, 2022 Edition-----It is hard to go past just how bad the level strategic stability in the world seems to have gone backwards with the war hardly stopping, Nancy Pelosi poking Chinese bears. The UK imploding economically and Europe on the brink of collapse.I have never seen it this bas and many senior commentators agree. Really very worrying!-----Major Issues.-----https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/newspoll-record-electoral-satisfaction-rating-for-anthony-albanese/news-story/6ad1f681586961423e3eb75a05b99949Newspoll: Record electoral satisfaction rating for Anthony AlbaneseSimon BensonJuly 31, 2022Anthony Alba...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - August 11, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs
U.S. Tax Army to Expand
Chris EdwardsThe Inflation Reduction Act being considered by Congress would vastly expand the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS currently has82,000 employees, and the legislation would boost the number by roughly 87,000, according to a related Treasury estimate (Table 3).Of the $80 billion increased IRS funding in the Act, $46 billion would go to enforcement. That expansion promises to damage small ‐ and medium‐sized businesses andundermine civil liberties. Politicians complain about tax cheats, but noncompliance islow in the United States compared to other countries.All those new IRS employees would undermine GDP...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 10, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
Border Chaos and the Catch ‐22 of Immigration Reform
Alex NowrastehThe immigration system of the United States is more restrictive than most other developed countries. As my colleagueDavid Bier has shown, the foreign ‐born U.S. share of the population is the 35th highest out of 47 countries, including illegal immigrants. The United States has a foreign ‐born share of the population between Spain and Estonia. Using just thelegal immigrantshare of the population, the United States would have the 40th highest share that is foreign ‐born, between Denmark and France.A big difference in immigration between the United States and Europe is that illegal immigrants...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 10, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
Raising Corporate Taxes Does Not Help Workers
Norbert MichelFor decades, Congress has done little more than complicate the tax code which, to this day, punishes success in a variety of ways. During this time, many politicians have consistently demagogued corporations, treating them as little more than a new source of tax revenue.TheInflation Reduction Act of 2022 continues this trend and ignores the fact that corporations are nothing more than legal associations that represent human beings, all of whom potentially represent employees, consumers, and shareholders. Raise taxes on “corporations” and people will pay–or pay for–higher taxes.A sensible fra...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 9, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Norbert Michel Source Type: blogs
Senate Bill: IRS Funding Hypocrisy
Chris EdwardsThe Senate ’s Inflation Reduction Act includes an $80 billion increase in the Internal Revenue Service budget over a decade, which would roughly double the agency’s budget by 2031.It ’s nearly impossible for taxpayers to contact the IRS for timely answers to filing questions, but the Senate bill devotes just $3.2 billion of the new spending to “taxpayer services.” The lion’s share—$46 billion—goes toward jacking up IRS enforcement. The thrust of the bill is against t he people, not for the people to understand the code and voluntarily comply.Senators supporting the bill talk about “tax cheat...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 5, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
Inflation Reduction Act
Chris EdwardsInflation stems from too much money chasing too few goods. U.S. consumer inflation is running at 9 percent as too much government‐spawned money creation is coinciding with restrictions on the supply side of the economy.The “Inflation Reduction Act” in front of the Senate is supposed to address inflation by reducing budget deficits with a combination of tax hikes and green subsidies. But despite its name, the Senate bill would not reduce inflation because it would damage the supply side and hardly affect deficits.The budget modelers at Penn ‐Whartonestimate that the Senate bill would reduce the...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 3, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
US Cardiac electrophysiologists meet reimbursement reality and don ’t like it.
By ANISH KOKA
It’s been a while but Anish Koka, a one time regular writer on THCB and occasional THCB Gang member, is back publishing up a storm on his Substack channel. You may recall that his political and clinical views don’t always mesh with some of the wooly liberals we feature on THCB (cough, cough, me), but we are delighted to be back publishing some of his pieces–this one is on reimbursement.–Matthew Holt
The subspecialty of Cardiology known as electrophysiology has seen explosive growth over the last few decades in large part because of a massive expansion in the suite of procedur...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 1, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Health Technology Medical Practice Ablation afib Anish Koka atrial fibrillation Cardiologists CPT codes electrophysiology Source Type: blogs
Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 1 August, 2022.
Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.General Comment-----Quite a lot this week – especially regarding the NBN and Labor trying to regain control of what it is actually for – service provision – and not making a huge profit – in their view. Love the new Minister has ambitions to be maximally photogenic and not a ‘techie’!Otherwise all sorts of fun things!-----https://www.ausd...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - August 1, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs
The Macro View – Health, Economics, and Politics and the Big Picture. What I Am Watching Here And Abroad.
July 28, 2022 Edition-----Sadly the war drags on, Biden seems to be pretty impotent on most policy fronts and the US seems to be heading into a recession. Not good,In the UK the choosing the next PM is off and running as the country and Europe are cooling down after a heatwave (for them) of biblical proportions!In OZ Parliament is meeting which is when the rubber will really hit the road as a new virus wave runs out of control still! We need to do more to control it as we realise just how bad long COVID is!-----Major Issues.-----https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/how-a-nobel-laureate-got-australian-economists-offside-...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - July 28, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs
Semiconductor Subsidy Mischief
Clark PackardIn the coming weeks, Congress could pass a bill showering massive subsidies on the semiconductor industry. The supposed purpose of the plan is to induce firms to produce more semiconductors domestically with an eye toward outcompeting China. My Cato colleague Scott Lincicomenoted that politics, not economics, is the driving factor behind the push for this corporate welfare scheme. Meanwhile, Bryan Riley of the National Taxpayers Unionhighlighted the enormous costs associated with the bill. The American Action Forumhas noted that the private sector is already working to address the global chip shortage –...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 25, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Clark Packard Source Type: blogs
Turning PBM " Arbitrage " On Its Head: Bypassing Insurance to Save
The word of the day is " arbitrage " . Officially, Merriam-Webster defines the English language word " arbitrage " this way: " The nearly simultaneous purchase and sale of securities or foreign exchange in different markets in order to profit from price discrepancies " . However, arbitrage does not exclusively apply to securities sold on Wall Street. The term has also been adopted by the Pharmacy Benefit Manager ( " PBM " ) industry. But PBM ' s are not Wall Street investment banks. And that ' s something we all need to realize.The PBM Accountability Project 2021 report " Understanding the Evolving Business Model...
Source: Scott's Web Log - July 25, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2022 arbitrage coupon-generating websites apps coupons Medicare PBM Source Type: blogs
