Links for 2011-06-29

In yesterday's research desk thread, dt4211 asked: How much of the cost growth in medical care (if any) is driven by increases in costs for the same services, and how much is the costs associated with new treatments and services that didn't used to exist? To put it another way, is there an increase in doctor productivity, such that the same output becomes cheaper over time? That's an interesting question, and one I didn't know the answer to. So I wrote to David Cutler, a health economist at Harvard, and asked him. Here's his reply:

I've got some good news for deficit hawks: This year, Congress passed legislation reducing the deficit by about $125 billion over the next 10 years. But, as they say on the infomercials, that's not all! The bill cuts the deficit by $1.3 trillion in the second decade. That more than pays for every dollar we've spent on stimulus since 2008. It also sets up a new -- and credible -- system to keep Medicare's costs under control. So, hear that, fiscal conservatives? Hear that, bond markets? This is progress, baby. We'll lick our deficit problem yet.

Zacks.com submits: The recent health care reform has caused unrest amongst the US employers, who will now have to spend more on their employees’ medical plans. The new reform has made taxable the subsidies on retiree drugs offered by the government.

A recent study by Luciana Juvenal and Ivan Petrella suggests that the financialization of oil futures markets contributed significantly to the surge in oil prices after 2003.

Avik S. A. Roy Chapin White of the Center for Studying Health System Change has published an important new paper in Health Services Research, a journal of health economics, which suggests that a critical part of the Affordable Care Act--its expansion of Medicaid coverage to 16 million more Americans--may actually reduce those individuals' access to health care.

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber has become the go-to economist for fans of the health care reform wending its way through congress.  He regularly produces analyses showing how great reform is going to be for people buying insurance in the individual market, and has been a vocal advocate for the excise tax.  His prominence made him a natural lead-in for Ron Brownstein's