Author Archives: silvermega-1959

Health Care Spending Growth Will Rise a Bit Over the Next Decade, But Only a Bit

by silvermega-1959 Posted on July 29, 2015

Mother Jones

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By coincidence, a new article in Health Affairs confirms an offhand guess I made a few days ago. I wrote, “I happen to think the slowdown in medical costs is real, and will continue for some time (though not at the extremely low rates of the past few years).” The Health Affairs researchers write: “Recent historically low growth rates in the use of medical goods and services, as well as medical prices, are expected to gradually increase. However, in part because of the impact of continued cost-sharing increases that are anticipated among health plans, the acceleration of these growth rates is expected to be modest.”

As the Wall Street Journal notes, this is is similar to what Medicare actuaries have been saying for a while:

The actuaries again Tuesday pointed to the stronger economy and aging population as the main factors in shaping Medicare’s future spending.

Prescription-drug spending, long a target of warnings from the insurance industry, drew particular attention from the actuaries, who pointed to a big rise in spending growth there as costly new specialty drugs such as Sovaldi, for hepatitis C, came on the market in 2014. Spending growth on pharmaceutical products jumped by 12.6% in 2014, up from 2.5% in 2013….In all, health care will comprise about a fifth of the U.S. economy by 2024, and the growth rate will exceed the expected average growth in gross domestic product by 1.1 percentage points.

So: good news or bad news? The bad news is that health care spending keeps increasing steadily. It’s currently about 17 percent of GDP and will increase to about 20 percent of GDP over the next decade. The good news is that this is slow growth: only about 1.1 percent higher than overall economic growth. Any other time in the past 30 years we would have killed for a growth rate that low.

There’s probably no way to avoid health care costs growing at least a little faster than the rest of the economy. We keep making advances, and our revealed preferences are pretty clear on at least one point: we value health care highly and are willing to pay more for it even at the expense of other items. That probably won’t be true forever, but it’s true for now.

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Health Care Spending Growth Will Rise a Bit Over the Next Decade, But Only a Bit

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Bombs Sometimes, Kills Often, but Maz Jobrani Swears He Isn’t a Terrorist

by silvermega-1959 Posted on February 3, 2015

Mother Jones

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Maz Jobrani’s parents really didn’t want him to be a comedian. Perhaps a lawyer, or a prosperous businessman, as his father was before the 1979 Iranian revolution compelled the family to resettle in Northern California. But Jobrani, now 42, eventually left grad school to follow his dreams. He was cast as an expendable terrorist in a Chuck Norris flick and a reluctant one on 24 before he told his agent enough with the stereotypical roles.

He also teamed up with Egyptian-born comic Ahmed Ahmed and Palestinian American funnyman Aron Kader to perform as the Arabian Knights, whose Axis of Evil Comedy Tour led to a 2007 Comedy Central special and performances around the Middle East. Out this month, Jobrani’s new comedic memoir, I’m Not a Terrorist, But I’ve Played One on TV, highlights his attempts to assimilate, make a laughingstock of bigots, and joke his way to the top.

Mother Jones: You were six when your family moved here from Iran. What was the situation?

Maz Jobrani: It was late 1978. Protests were happening, but I don’t think anyone really knew that there was gonna be a revolution—everyone thought that the Shah would stop it. My father was on business in New York City and he told my mom to bring me and my sister to spend the winter holidays. I always say we packed for two weeks and stayed for 35 years.

My dad owned an electric company and he brought a lot of money to America with him. He bought some properties and was able to turn them around pretty fast, and he figured, “Well, this is great, I’ll just be a real estate investor.” So he bought a bunch more properties. And then the early ’80s recession hit and he wasn’t able to get rid of the homes. The next 10 years he basically bled out most of his money.

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Bombs Sometimes, Kills Often, but Maz Jobrani Swears He Isn’t a Terrorist

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Ugly Fruits & Veggies: Why They Matter (Video)

by silvermega-1959 Posted on July 28, 2014

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Ugly Fruits & Veggies: Why They Matter (Video)

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Apple Has Patented Clicking on Phone Number to Dial a Phone? Seriously?

by silvermega-1959 Posted on March 31, 2014

Mother Jones

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The New York Times tells us today that Apple’s lawsuit against Samsung is really just a proxy for its war against Google’s Android operating system. That’s not news. But this just makes me want to pound my head against a wall:

In the case set to open this week, Apple’s legal complaint aims at some of the features that Google, not Samsung, put in Android, like the ability to tap on a phone number inside a text message to dial the number. And although Google is not a defendant in this case, some of its executives are expected to testify as witnesses.

I know we all mock some of the things that seem to be patentable these days. I sure do. And who knows? Maybe those things really aren’t quite as obvious as we all think they are. But tapping a phone number on a phone in order to dial it? There is no plausible universe in which several thousand designers wouldn’t think of doing that. Somebody needs to put a leash on Apple before the venomous ghost of Steve Jobs drags them into a rabbit hole of techno-legal vengeance from which they never recover. Enough.

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Apple Has Patented Clicking on Phone Number to Dial a Phone? Seriously?

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Like Meat and Beer? Hate Cancer?

by silvermega-1959 Posted on March 27, 2014

Mother Jones

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Spring is coming. Before long, beer-drinking men and women will be coaxing fiery embers to life and tossing dead animals onto charred metal grates above them. Ahh, the sizzle and snap of fat as it hits red hot coals. Oh no! What’s that you say? Carcinogens are caused by the “contact of dripping fat with hot embers“?

Fear not, eager human. And keep a couple of your dark winter beers handy, because researchers from Portugal and Spain have found that marinating your pork chops in dark beer dramatically reduces carcinogenic contamination. Rejoice!

Smoke, pyrolysis (organic matter decomposing in intense heat), and dripping fat can all cause the accumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on charcoal-grilled meats. According to the EPA, PAHs have caused tumors, birth defects, and “reproductive problems” in lab animals—though the Agency clarifies that these effects have not yet been observed in humans. You can also find PAHs in cigarette smoke and car exhaust.

The researchers tested the effect of marinating meat with Pilsner, nonalcohol Pilsner, and Black beer, against a control sampling of raw meat. Black beer show the strongest “inhibitory effect,” reducing the formation of carcinogenic PAHs by 53 percent. Pilsner beer and nonalcholic Pilsner, showed less significant results: 13 percent and 25 percent respectively. The scientists aren’t entirely sure why a beer marinade has this effect; they speculate that it might be the antioxidant compounds in beer, especially darker varieties, which inhibit the movement of free radicals necessary for the formation of PAHs.

The study, which will be published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, and sponsored by the University of Porto and the American Chemical Society, confirms what we always knew in our hearts: Guinness is good for you.

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Like Meat and Beer? Hate Cancer?

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