How the East Was Won

ianjq: every time i listen to npr

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:49:29 -0400

ianjq:

every time i listen to npr

berker: We meet again.

Thu, 31 May 2012 11:15:54 -0400

berker:

We meet again.

Photo

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:30:38 -0400

Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:03:47 -0500

Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France:

greenstate:

On Friday, the International Federation of Health Plans — a global insurance trade association that includes more than 100 insurers in 25 countries — released more direct evidence. It surveyed its members on the prices paid for 23 medical services and products in different countries, asking after everything from a routine doctor’s visit to a dose of Lipitor to coronary bypass surgery. And in 22 of 23 cases, Americans are paying higher prices than residents of other developed countries. Usually, we’re paying quite a bit more. The exception is cataract surgery, which appears to be costlier in Switzerland, though cheaper everywhere else.

Prices don’t explain all of the difference between America and other countries. But they do explain a big chunk of it. The question, of course, is why Americans pay such high prices — and why we haven’t done anything about it.

“Other countries negotiate very aggressively with the providers and set rates that are much lower than we do,” Anderson says. They do this in one of two ways. In countries such as Canada and Britain, prices are set by the government. In others, such as Germany and Japan, they’re set by providers and insurers sitting in a room and coming to an agreement, with the government stepping in to set prices if they fail.

In America, Medicare and Medicaid negotiate prices on behalf of their tens of millions of members and, not coincidentally, purchase care at a substantial markdown from the commercial average. But outside that, it’s a free-for-all. Providers largely charge what they can get away with, often offering different prices to different insurers, and an even higher price to the uninsured.

[…]

“In my view, health is a business in the United States in quite a different way than it is elsewhere,” says Tom Sackville, who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government and now directs the IFHP. “It’s very much something people make money out of. There isn’t too much embarrassment about that compared to Europe and elsewhere.”

The result is that, unlike in other countries, sellers of health-care services in America have considerable power to set prices, and so they set them quite high. Two of the five most profitable industries in the United States — the pharmaceuticals industry and the medical device industry — sell health care. With margins of almost 20 percent, they beat out even the financial sector for sheer profitability.

The players sitting across the table from them — the health insurers — are not so profitable. In 2009, their profit margins were a mere 2.2 percent. That’s a signal that the sellers have the upper hand over the buyers.

This is a good deal for residents of other countries, as our high spending makes medical innovations more profitable. “We end up with the benefits of your investment,” Sackville says. “You’re subsidizing the rest of the world by doing the front-end research.”

But many researchers are skeptical that this is an effective way to fund medical innovation. “We pay twice as much for brand-name drugs as most other industrialized countries,” Anderson says. “But the drug companies spend only 12 percent of their revenues on innovation. So yes, some of that money goes to innovation, but only 12 percent of it.”

one thing i liked about this article was that they came right out and said it: the new healthcare laws did nothing about price. it goes on to try and explain that fact away in some form, but the fact remains. your country doesn’t really care about you. sorry, friends.

BARBARIC!

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:33:48 -0500

zackules:

If I get a total of 100 tumblr followers by this Friday, I will post something special from my new book, Broxo, which comes out from First Second books this October!

Follow this guy, people!! This is the dude who made our Wet Hot American Summer St. Jude fundraiser happen last year!!

nprfreshair: NPR Best Picture Cheat Sheet

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:37:50 -0500

nprfreshair:

NPR Best Picture Cheat Sheet

kateoplis: Repurposed phone booth library in NYC by...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:37:17 -0500

kateoplis:

Repurposed phone booth library in NYC by architect John Locke

"Best" Scenes from this week's Conservative PAC conference

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:56:07 -0500

At the “Red Carpet Blogger Awards” at CPAC, 2/10/12. Rappers: Steven Crowder and Chris Loesch.

A Conservative’s Tips For Finding The Right Mate

The Regrets of the Dying, Numbers 6 thru 11

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:12:18 -0500

A nurse asked her dying patients to look back on their lives and share what they regretted most. The top five most common were:

I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
I wish I didn’t work so hard.
I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
I wish that I had let myself be happier.

The nurse recently released 6 thru 11 on the list. The commonalities shared by humanity never cease to astound me:

I wish I hadn’t been tricked into feeding that chicken to another chicken on a fraternity bet.
I wish I’d rescued my children from that polar bear.
I wish I hadn’t bought a polar bear.
I wish that Doritos came in more flavors, like Ranchier Ranch, Dumpling, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
I wish I had Pedi Egg’d, even once.
I wish I’d thought of Muppets more.

30 New Things, Day 14. Re-imagining the calendar.

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:45:31 -0500

My friend @katekrontiris blogs about my horrible day planner, and offers some inspirations for how to port over a more personalized and inspirational calendaring system into the digital sphere.

katekrontiris:

#universeworksinweirdways

After moaning to a friend early this morning about how bad I am at managing my own time, I had an interesting conversation this evening about re-imagining the calendar.

The photos are of horrible quality, but illustrative nonetheless.

Below, is the most recent innovation in calendaring — it appears to be the equivalent of a large school binder or karaoke song list.

Inside are carefully crafted pages for each day, suited to this particular user’s thoughts about how he wants to spend his time and what he is willing to commit to (he only uses pen; all entries must be serious).

Clearly, he is doing more during the middle of the day than early (or late) in the day, hence the different time slot sizes. And he wants to track both his aspirations and his accomplishments — it is purposeful, deliberate, measured.

This made me wonder if there was a way to re-think our digital calendaring tools to make them inspiring, instead of oppressive. Why must the thought of looking at my calendar fill me with dread? Why shouldn’t I look forward to being inspired by what is to come, as opposed to feeling pressured by responsibilities?

These questions made me wonder whether there was a “design” fix to be had — what would make me excited to look at my calendar?

My conclusion was that it would be some combination of visual beauty and sound wisdom: a changing set of images that delight my eyes, attached meaningfully to the events of my day, perhaps with some lightly served suggestions for how to better manage my time. Perhaps my engagements would not be locked into the standard day-to-day or week-by-week format — perhaps they would be organized chronologically and thematically. Could I get some analytics? Could I see how much time I spend in class vs. working vs. procrastinating vs. socializing? Could I evaluate my happiness alongside the way I’ve chosen to spend my time?

Essentially, why couldn’t my calendar be both smart and beautiful?

Sope and Pippa! http://www.americancensorship.org

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:04:00 -0500

Sope and Pippa!

http://www.americancensorship.org

And here are those results! Almost the top 1/3rd of my age...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:45:00 -0500

And here are those results!

Almost the top 1/3rd of my age group, top 1/10th overall, and a sub 9’ mile for the whole time? Sheesh…

Running through the St. Jude campus was the highlight of my...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:19:29 -0500

Running through the St. Jude campus was the highlight of my marathon, and possibly of my whole running career. (Career? Sure why not). Wearing the St. Jude hero shirt you get a ton of attention, but it’s amazing for this one moment to feel that incredible bond with such a huge group of folks who are affected by St. Jude. Thanks to Anna for sacrificing some amazing high fives to grab this video.

Father/Son Moustair. (Thank God Movember’s almost...

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:43:06 -0500

Father/Son Moustair.

(Thank God Movember’s almost over…)

RB 188: SOPA on the Ropes(?)

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:45:29 -0500

RB 188: SOPA on the Ropes(?):

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) — a U.S. House bill that would give the Department of Justice the authority to demand that ISPs block sites accused of hosting…

Operation: Suck it Trebek

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:46:49 -0500

I ran the first 4 marathons of my life between May and October of this year. The first two in May were just to finish. The third in October was to see how I was doing. The fourth two weeks after that was just to enjoy the scenery.

But I’ve still never set a goal time to aspire.

I was running my last 20-miler today — my last long run before the St. Jude Marathon in 2 weeks. And looking at my time I was shocked. At the pace I was going I wouldn’t hit a sub 4 hour marathon.

More importantly I wouldn’t even come close to comedian Will Ferrell’s famous 2003 Boston Marathon time of 3:56:12.

I need to break a 4 hour marathon. I need to beat Will Ferrell.

I’m not setting this sub-Will Ferrell goal for any particular fundraising gimmick, but my team is still accepting donations for the next 2 weeks if you still want to support. And as always, THANKS TO ALL OF you who are supporting St. Jude.

Suck it Trebek.

Wipe that smile off your face.

Because I don’t reblog quite enough…

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:54:28 -0500

Because I don’t reblog quite enough…

Anthony Griffith recalls his struggle as a father of a child...

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:34:11 -0500

Anthony Griffith recalls his struggle as a father of a child with cancer even as he struggled to make a name for himself as an entertainer.

This is exactly why St. Jude exists.

Thank you all so much for helping me reach my fundraising goal.

If you’d still like to contribute you can do so here.

4 Chipotle burritos in 25 minutes. 4400 calories. 5 pounds. 1...

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:54:34 -0400

4 Chipotle burritos in 25 minutes.
4400 calories.
5 pounds.
1 mile run in under 7 minutes and 30 seconds.
No throwing up for 2 hours.
All to support St. Jude.

And now the next challenge. I’m participating in my own version of Movember - the epic mustache growing challenge for the month of November.

If 50 donations of ANY amount — $1, $5, $10, ANYTHING — come in between today and Halloween, not only will an anonymous donor contribute an extra $200, I will participate in “Movember,” the epic mustache growing challenge for November.

BRING IT.

I really did finish the burrito mile. I swear….

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:31:27 -0400

I really did finish the burrito mile. I swear….