…Thus, if you want to understand why these procedures cost so much, follow the reimbursement rates. For instance, in 1997 Medicare raised reimbursement rates in certain parts of the country. On average, areas with a 2 percent increase in payment rates experienced a 3 percent increase in care provision. Physicians charge what they can, and then some.
Given that old people consume way more healthcare than anyone else, why do other rich countries spend so much less on healthcare than the US, when the US has comparatively fewer oldsters? Something is very wrong with this picture. What is all that money going? … A lot is paying for outpatient care and administration, which alone account for half of US healthcare expenditures
What does this actually mean, though? That permanent housing be available at the snap of one's fingers, anywhere in the US? Not realistic. Maybe in Finland, but not here. There is no basic right to live in the community of one's choice. Small town USA is off the hook here.
Unfortunately, residential hotels are becoming a relic of the past. For instance, San Francisco had 65,000 residential hotel units in 1910; today there are only around 19,000 units. If we really want to get serious about reducing urban homelessness in the US, we need to bring back residential hotels. Of course, I'm talking new, improved residential hotels, with support services available to all residents.
…For instance, single resident occupancy (SRO) rooms are just 80 square feet, enough for a bed, dresser and little else. San Francisco’s largest SRO hotel has 248 units. It would take 30 such SRO hotels to house the city’s current homeless population. That’s a lot of new buildings taking up a lot of valuable real estate in a city that doesn’t come close to meeting the housing needs of its low- and middle-income workers.
In other words, rats make choices based on what they want and what they consider possible. They imagine the future, weigh the relative merit of different actions, seek additional information if needed, choose what to do, and then act. They are agents with desires and goals.
Homeless advocates are coalescing around a "housing first" approach to ending homelessness. The idea is to transition homeless people to permanent housing as soon as possible, ideally within a matter of weeks. Formerly homeless tenants would receive ongoing needs-based support, contributing a portion of their income to the cost of housing and services.
The big coastal cities, such as Los Angeles and New York, have contributed the most to this increase in homelessness. A large majority of the US homeless are individuals without children (e.g., 92% in San Francisco) and most are mentally ill, physically disabled, and/or abuse various substances.
Hill notes that in most cases the best response to sea level rise is not the extreme one of building walls or abandoning the coast, but of creating “hybrid edges" that blend "natural ecosystems and human-made infrastructure to help cities adjust to rising tides."
Label creep: a gradual broadening of a category, often changing its meaning.
The journal Nature just published a paper, "Mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2017," which documents accelerating ice loss in Antarctica over the last few decades.
This series consists of links and excerpts from my last 12 months of posts touching on the science and politics of climate change. Part VIII: Climate Change: Moral Communities and Divisive Rhetoric Climate Change: Labeling People and Framing the Issues How Not to Talk to a Climate Change Skeptic, Part VI How Not to Talk to a Climate Change Skeptic, Part V Straw Men and Their Variations, Part II: Comment on 'The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels' How Not to Talk to a Climate Change Skeptic, Part IV
This series consists of links and excerpts from my last 12 months of posts touching on the science and politics of climate change. Part VII: Climate Change Consensus: Update from the 97% Folks Climate Change Consensus and Lessons from Social Psychology Climate Change Consensus: Digging Deeper Climate Change: Degrees of Certainty within the Consensus Climate Change: Exploring the Consensus
This series consists of links and excerpts from my last 12 months of posts touching on the science and politics of climate change. Part VI: Estimating Economic Damage from Climate Change, Part II Estimating Economic Damage from Climate Change, Part I Energy Efficiency über Alles What Does It Mean Not to be a Climate Change Skeptic?
This series consists of links and excerpts from my last 12 months of posts touching on the science and politics of climate change. Part V: The Carbon Footprint of Consuming Experiences Instead of Things Estimating Economic Damage from Climate Change, Part V Estimating Economic Damage from Climate Change, Part IV Estimating Economic Damage from Climate Change, Part III
This series consists of links and excerpts from my last 12 months of posts touching on the science and politics of climate change. Part IV: Mitigation Measures for a Less Warm Planet, Part IIIb: Reduce Black Carbon Mitigation Measures for a Less Warm Planet, Part IIIa: Reduce Emissions of Short-Lived Pollutants Mitigation Measures for a Less Warm Planet, Part II: Energy Efficiency Mitigation Measures for a Less Warm Planet, Part I Staying within a 1.5° C Rise by 2100 is Still Possible Plus the Obligatory Warnings
This series consists of links and excerpts from my last 12 months of posts touching on the science and politics of climate change. Part III Concerned Scientists, Climate Change and History as the Context of Trust Concerned Scientists, Building Trust, and Climate Change Explicit Persuasive Intent and Concerned Scientists Mitigation Measures for a Less Warm Planet, Part IIId: Reduce Methane Emissions from Anthropogenic Sources Mitigation Measures for a Less Warm Planet, Part IIIc: Reduce Wetland Methane Emissions
This series consists of links and excerpts from my last 12 months of posts touching on the science and politics of climate change. Part II: States of the Nation: Red States/Blue States and Environmental Policy, Part IV States of the Nation: Red States/Blue States and Environmental Policy, Part III States of the Nation: Red States/Blue States and Environmental Policy, Part II States of the Nation: Red States, Blue States and Environmental Policy - Part I Concerned Scientists, Climate Change and Why Some People Still Resist
This series consists of links and excerpts from my last 12 months of posts touching on the science and politics of climate change. Part I: A Framework for Finding Common Ground on Climate Change Psychology and Politics, Part IV: System Justification and Climate Change Psychology and Politics, Part II: Truth and Research Agendas First Step in Helping Farmers Help the Environment: Listen, Don’t Tell, Part II Environmental Politics The Science Behind the Headlines, Part II: Is the 2°C Target Beyond Our Reach?