A Reality of Medicare

In one of my classes, the professor told us that one of the big reasons Medicare is so expensive is because it's set up to cover the sickest population. Think about it, Medicare covers people 65+, the disabled, and it even pays for some odd healthcare-related costs like residency training programs (thank you for that, by the way). Therefore, it makes a lot of sense that Medicare wouldn't be a beacon of cheap healthcare. And yet I always hear people saying that Medicare is ridiculously expensive, wasteful, and prone to abuse that can waste millions or billions or zillions of dollars! I'm hoping that over the next few days, I can address some of these concerns.

According to a 2009 report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicare covered 45.2 million people in 2008: 37.8 million 65+ and 7.4 million disabled. This cost $468 million. Yes, Medicare costs a lot, but it's also covering a higher risk population that deals with a higher incidence of high cost conditions like diabetes, hypertension, cancer, Alzheimer's Disease, etc.

I'm curious as to how Medicare's efficiency in covering a higher risk population compares to other countries with national healthcare coverage similar to that of Medicare.  Do European countries cover a similarly high-risk population at a comparable cost, or do they spend much more or much less in doing so? Initial searches brought up precisely bupkis on the matter, but I'm hoping I can find some more information about this in the near future.

Politicians love to point out how much Medicare costs and how costs are so out of control, but considering Medicare covers a population that's at greater risk for higher cost conditions, does Medicare really cost much more than it should be expected to?  I don't know, but if I find any information that sheds light on this subject, I'll be sure to let you know.  In the meantime, if you hear a politician or someone in the media bitching about how much Medicare costs, keep in mind that its high cost is largely due to the population it was set up to cover!

Who should be on a board of education?

Steven Novella at NeuroLogica commented on the Texas BoE's recent changes to their social studies curriculum guidelines.  The Texas Education Agency responded to this recent press by explaining exactly what they changed.  Accepting the normal media sensationalism (and with Fox News criticizing such a conservative boost, who knew?), I still believe that the BoE is downplaying the reality of their changes as they pertain not only to education in Texas but also throughout the country.  They stick to saying that they're only changing curriculum guidelines and not the textbooks themselves, as though textbook publishers aren't going to adapt to their guidelines and then sell those same versions to millions of other students around the country!

Either way, I became curious as to who the hell is on the Texas BoE.  First off, I would expect a fair representation from school administrators and those with careers/degrees in education.  That's a gimme.  But considering these are the people setting guidelines for students who are expected to enter college and/or contribute to the workforce within the next 10 or so years, I would also expect to have some people with professional backgrounds that might qualify them to comment on what students need to know to be successful in the future job market.  I'd expect at least a few people with backgrounds as lawyers, physicians, engineers, etc.  I'm not saying a physician or an engineer is an expert on 3rd grade education, but they nonetheless have insight regarding what a student needs to learn in order to be successful in their professions in 10 years.  They also understand the importance of objective critical thinking skills, which is what children are more likely to retain after they graduate.  I certainly don't remember all the details from my high school US history class, but I remember to consider political, societal, and military motives when analyzing historical accounts.

With these wonderful expectations, I checked out the Texas BoE's list of board members.  After some investigation, some members' backgrounds inspired confidence while others left me wondering what the hell business they have determining what children in Texas should be required to learn.

Canadians taxed 40% with health insurance? Not quite

I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher this weekend and heard something that bothered me.  Specifically, Amy Holmes said something to the effect of Canadians paying a 40% income tax because of their national healthcare program.  To me, this didn't seem quite as outrageous as she meant it to be (considering the cost of healthcare paid out of pocket in the US), but I also wondered about the factuality of such a statement.

Before I get into the numbers, let me start by saying I'm no financial or healthcare expert.  I'm posting this mostly because I'm hoping someone who is more of an expert on the subject could comment on the situation.  I'm not looking to absolutely debunk her statement, but really just to introduce the idea that comparing the tax rate in Canada to that in the US as she did is neither an accurate nor a logical comparison.

The Daily Show and Colbert Report no longer on Hulu [Update]

As some of you may have heard, it's been announced that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report will no longer be available on Hulu beginning March 10.  It seems Comedy Central and Hulu couldn't work out a deal to keep the show streaming on Hulu, which is a real shame.  Hopefully they work out a new deal soon so I can continue using Hulu Desktop for the only 2 non-OTA shows I watch consistently.  Episodes will continue to be available on Comedy Central's website, but Hulu Desktop makes things so much easier because I can use my remote with my HTPC without having to bring out the keyboard.

[Update]  Both shows can still be streamed via Comedy Central's website using Boxee.  Granted, Comedy Central's site seems to use a lot more commercials, but if you're looking for a way to watch those shows using a remote and an HTPC, give Boxee a try.  Of course, Hulu blocks Boxee from streaming shows from Hulu's servers, which means you'll have to use both Boxee and Hulu Desktop if you still need to watch shows available only on Hulu.  Wow, it's a good thing this crap isn't frustrating at all, right?  At least it's better than paying $40/month for cable when you only watch 2 or 3 shows on the extra cable channels though.

Apparently everything I do is an attempt to prove my own elitism :-)

A friend of mine sent me a link to a CNN article about how liberalism, atheism, and sexual exclusivity are linked to IQ.  It seems that many of my opinions are the result of my desire to prove how smart I am.  Oh well, I suppose I'm OK with that.

Though one thing I will say is that sometimes people overestimate the utility of IQ tests.  There's a lot more to a person's intelligence than his ability to do well on an IQ test.  Nevertheless, it was an interesting read, especially because I find evolutionary psychology and biology to be infinitely fascinating. 

Initial Thoughts: Kobo Books

I'm almost half-way through my 2nd eBook I've purchased via the Kobo Books app on my Palm Pre.  So far, I've been really disappointed and I don't think I'll buy any more books from them.  My biggest complaint is that the text display is horribly wasteful.  With the narrowest margins and the smallest text (which are the defaults), it still only displays 17 lines of text.  That might sound like a lot, but it skips a line of text for each new paragraph and the screen isn't very wide either.  There would be room for at least 4-5 more lines if the display was actually fullscreen and didn't leave so much empty space for when the UI buttons appear (but they disappear while reading unless you bring them back up manually).  The buttons are almost never there, and yet it just leaves the space empty instead of using it for displaying text.  I'd even argue that the buttons are useless and everything they do can be accomplished via swiping gestures and/or just tap-holding the display to bring up a menu for bookmarks, book information, etc.  It also does not support landscape viewing.

On a few occasions it's even dropped text at the end of a chapter!  I noticed this on a couple chapters in the 2nd book I've read (Darkly Dreaming Dexter), but now it has me wondering if I missed text in the 1st book I read on it too (Checklist Manifesto)!  To add icing on the cake, I also haven't been able to use the bookmark feature the last few nights and it hasn't allowed me to download Darkly Dreaming Dexter to my phone so I can read it without having a data connection present.  This is especially disappointing because the whole motto of WebOS is to automatically save your data whenever you exit/close an application.  With all of the other phone applications, such as the memo pad or the task list, it automatically saves my data when I close the application so I don't need to manually press "save" to preserve my changes.  And yet with Kobo, I have to bring up the UI buttons and then save a bookmark (assuming I have a current data connection and the feature is working).  When opening Kobo back up, I have to navigate to my library and then select the book, when it seems much more practical to take me back to wherever I left off in my current book instead of me having to waste time getting back to it.  The "home screen" when opening up the application is actually a list of books that you can spend more money on.  How convenient.  It'd be nice if they tried to make it easier for me to actually read my eBooks instead of just making it easy to spend money on them.

As I've stated before, I was very excited about Kobo Books, but the software has really failed to deliver.  I'll post more information about the software (with some screenshots to show what I mean about the UI) as well as the books I've read after I get through my histology exam this week.

What is Verbatio?

Since I started this blog, I've never really been sure what I even wanted to blog about.  I was so excited when Google Analytics showed that my page impressions were into the double digits, but I still wasn't sure what subjects would allow me to express myself while still being interesting to any future viewers.

To be honest, I'm not sure I can focus on any one subject well enough or consistently enough to make the blog purely about that one topic.  So instead, over the next few weeks, I think I'll just try to post consistently about whatever subjects are on my mind.  I've recently discovered the "scheduled posting" option for my entries, so I can try to write my posts ahead of time instead of posting in spurts of 3 in a row and then nothing for days.  I'll also try my best to keep them relevant, but for the most part, it will just be about science, medicine, politics, technology, and whatever else happens to be on the mind of one particularly overstressed medical student at the time.  If one subject seems to predominate, then so be it and I'll see where it goes from there.  I'll look forward to your input!