Timeout for Health Care

I woke up with the gallinas, like I do just about every day when they crow at around five in the morning. I laid in bed for awhile, before turning my computer on and starting the day with two hours of podcasts, which I could do since I didn't have to teach or observe this morning, on account of not being able to plan yesterday. I'd like to take this moment to shamelessly plug one of them (and, since according to one of the other ones I listened to there's now a law (or possibility of a law) requiring disclosure of financial ties on blogs, that I have received no money to publicize the following).

I've listened to This American Life for a little over a year now. It's a weekly hour-long radio show that aims to shed light on the stories of people in extraordinary circumstances. Half of the stories, which I consider kind of hit and miss, touch on really diverse but general topics: true life stories of twins separated at birth, of break-ups, of interviewing schizophrenics, of working in morgues, of growing up gay; all sorts of stuff. The best stories, I think, are the ones that are tied to current events. My favorite of these have been the two stories that explained the causes of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, and then another hour explaining what happened in the subsequent bank crisis last fall. They're very politically neutral, full of interviews with people actually involved, and buoyed by independently verifiable statistics.

This morning I listened to an hour explaining in detail why health care costs have risen as much as they have. They have more than doubled, from 6,000 dollars per household in 2000 to over 13,000 per household in 2007. This alone is responsible for the stagnation of the median household income during this time. And the causes are varied and nuanced. Partly it's the fault of people wanting more care than they actually need; partly it's the fault of doctors having every incentive to give more care than people need; and partly it's the fault of the insurance companies having incentives to give more care than people actually need. It's a fascinating listen, and in the end, made me hopeful that things were actually going to change soon.

So here's the web address where you can download or listen to the show for free (or if you have itunes, you can subscribe to the podcast, and have it automatically download for free every week, as i do):

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=391