Posted by CB on January 09, 2009 at 22:13:18
In Reply to: Re: Question posted by reader on January 09, 2009 at 13:51:45:
Good question. These are the stats that Daschle cited in his confirmation hearing. Do I trust those stats? Yes and no. I do not know who crunched the numbers or what sort of econometric models were used to come up with a simple set of descriptive statistics. It could be totally bogus manipulation of economic data. What a policy analyst calls "political numbers."
However, I work very closely with an econometrician, and she has been explaining this stuff to me.(Econometricians are policy analysts who have done the business case for health care financing reform.) Understanding how our current health care finance structures are putting serious constraints on job creation and economic recovery isn't exactly a cakewalk. The basic premise is that you can't get a true picture of insurance coverage unless you also look at service delivery and resource allocation.