Comment on BMJ: https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o618.full?ijkey=LZFTb5pdZ4hAr9H&keytype=ref So we are back to the tiering argument when NHS tiering is common: waiting lists, regional variations, etc. But the tiering in provision is exacerbated by the failure to use purchasing that is agnostic to ownership.… Read More »The continuing fear of two-tier healthcare
The Covid pandemic has entailed a range of restrictions on our freedoms. It has led lawmakers to act in ill-liberal ways that go beyond what is actually necessary. There are two areas of concern in this post: The first is how… Read More »Quarantines and ageism
Comment on: Drawing light from the pandemic: Rethinking strategies for health policy and beyond https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851021002918 My view is that the pandemic highlighted the failure of public entities and they should not be further rewarded by being put in charge of… Read More »Should the fox run the hen house?
NI is a type of ‘insurance’ that morphed into a tax which in reality is a just another type of tax on income. It is used to pay for things like the NHS and other public benefits. BUT, is it… Read More »National Insurance [NI] is a tax that should be repurposed
Comment on: Stakeholder consultation on the guiding principles for knowledge valorisation, https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/2ba4fdb7-5bc9-11ec-91ac-01aa75ed71a1/language-en Valorisation is a term used, in German, by Marx. It means value-adding activities that increase the value of capital through labour. Therein lies the rub of course, as… Read More »Valorisation: is that even a word?
Comment on: Revisiting academic health sciences systems a decade later: discovery to health to population to society https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01752-9/fulltext Timely update in Lancet on academic health science systems. These organisations have the missions of research, teaching and clinical services plus this… Read More »Academic Health Science Centres, revisited
Now that we are in the midst of a pandemic, I thought it would be of interest to post a section of a report I wrote in 2009 which included pandemics. Given the date, you should assume the science is… Read More »Think like a virus: pandemic preparedness
The demand for policy is influenced by a constellation of factors, including timing; there are windows (called ‘policy windows’) when some things can be done, such as responding to a crisis and times when advocating a policy demand is just… Read More »Political reality and the market in ideas: why research fails to inform policy
This is another article in my continuing commentary on market access and politics. The focus in this case is to look more closely at behaviours of people involved from government, industry and healthcare. Occupying these roles are people who bring… Read More »Behavioural economics: payer psychology and market access
This article is a continuation of my commentary on the politics of healthcare with particular focus on issues that likely interest those involved in market access and government relations. In this case, I’m commenting on government and market failure in… Read More »Market and government failure: market access politics