Tag: Health

U.S. Spends 11 Times What China Does on Military Per Capita, by David Swanson

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)2 Comments
Image by takomabibelot via Flickr

NATO and various columnists employed by major U.S. newspapers and “think” tanks believe that military spending levels should be measured in comparison to nations’ financial economies. If you have more money, you should spend more money on wars and war preparations. I’m not sure if this is based on opinion polls in Afghanistan and Libya expressing gratitude for war as a public service or some other source of data less imaginary.

U.S. Spends 11 Times What China Does on Military Per Capita, by David Swanson

How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to play down the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead, newly released historical documents show.

How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

At the time, studies had begun pointing to a relationship between high-sugar diets and the country’s high rates of heart disease. At the same time, other scientists, including the prominent Minnesota physiologist Ancel Keys, were investigating a competing theory that it was saturated fat and dietary cholesterol that posed the biggest risk for heart disease.

A Comparison Of Hospital Administrative Costs In Eight Nations: US Costs Exceed All Others By Far

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

A few studies have noted US health insurers’ and providers’ outsize administrative costs, mostly in relation to Canadian costs. However, no research has compared the administrative costs of hospitals across nations representing a broad spectrum of health care systems. Cross-national differences in accounting standards make such international comparisons challenging. To address this challenge, we assembled an international team of health policy experts to analyze hospital administrative costs for eight nations: Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. This article summarizes the findings of this research team and offers some lessons for policy makers who are searching for payment strategies that minimize administrative overhead.
— Read on www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2013.1327