Drug testing: Who pays? Who benefits?

Medicare reform: who pays and who benefits?

As Medicare's share of federal spending and gross domestic product (GDP) rises, the program may have increasingly important consequences not only for the health of Americans but also for their net income and financial well-being. We use incidence analysis to study payments and benefits in Medicare to various generations and income groups. We find that Medicare actually provides larger net dolla...

Who Pays for Disinflation?

Many economic observers applaud the current rate of inflation in the United States, claiming that the rate is so low that inflation has ceased to matter much in the decisions of individuals and businesses. Some, such as Martin Feldstein (1997), want to see inflation fall still further--to zero--arguing that such a reduction would yield substantial gains by allowing resources to be allocated mor...

The costs of caring: Who pays? Who profits? Who panders?

Avastin, a widely used colon cancer drug manufactured by San Francisco-based biotech company Genentech, has proven a somewhat effective treatment for lung and breast cancer when administered at twice the normal dose. In February, the New York Times carried a story about Avastin's extraordinarily high price when used in this alternative way: $100,000 for one year's treatment--a figure fully twic...

Migrants' healthcare: who pays?

Who pays for obesity?

Adult obesity is a growing problem. From 1962 to 2006, obesity prevalence nearly tripled to 35.1 percent of adults. The rising prevalence of obesity is not limited to a particular socioeconomic group and is not unique to the United States. Should this widespread obesity epidemic be a cause for alarm? From a personal health perspective, the answer is an emphatic "yes." But when it comes to justi...