Arnold Kling is on the latest EconTalk podcast with Russ Roberts discussing the crisis of abundance in health care, Bayes Theorem, and Masonomics (which ties to my recent Spotlight). You won’t regret the hour of listening.
Kling uses Bayes Theorem in part of a discussion about doctor-patient relations. The National Committee for Quality Assurance wants “to encourage doctors to meet with patients for more than a few minutes during an office visit and to also compensate them, or nurse coordinators, for communicating with patients by phone and e-mail outside office hours,” according to the NYT story. Funny, that’s what market advocates say will happen if we put most health care funding back in the hands of patients instead of third-parties (employers, insurance companies, and government).
One aspect of health Kling and Roberts did not explore is the chronic condition among health policy advocates to see public health concerns in everything, even when there is at best contradictory evidence. One example is the obesity crisis. Katherine Flegal, my favorite researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has again found positive health effects from having more weight than the supposed ideal.
