We’re in the season of reading and quoting executives. There’s Amazon’s letter from Jeff Bezos on customer-centricity, Jamie Dimon’s on employees, customers, and better regulations, Buffett’s on the tailwinds of America’s economic machine. Jeff Lawson, CEO and co-founder of Twilio, has his own words to add. His company “enables developers to build, scale and operate…
Category: Education
Who’s To Blame?
Hardbacks are supposed to sell for more. They cost more to make, are studier, and look cooler. Elisabeth Rosenthal’s An American Sickness is now on Amazon, with the hardcover edition priced at a 38% discount to the paper version. What gives? Dig a little deeper and not being part of prime ($5 more for slower…
Healthcare Advice On An Index Card
There’s a University of Chicago professor named Harold Pollack who famously said “that the best [financial] advice for most people would fit on an index card.” He and writer Helaine Olen ironically wrote a whole book about the expanded topic. I haven’t read it yet. The card that inspired the book is below. Contribute to…
Averages Over Time
In many ways, I’m a below average driver. I only drive about 4,000 miles a year so I don’t get much practice. I use a blinker most of the time but I’m not always courteous. Sometimes I cut in at the last minute, which I recently read is actually good for traffic flows, even it…
Cadillac Consequences
Mothers and psychologists remind us that we have a built-in bias to do what’s easiest or to follow the path of least resistance. Water and electricity are like this. We are naturally lazy so to stick to an exercise plan, it should be something we like, with shoes left by the bed, perhaps done with…
Averages are Overrated
I’ve always liked understanding the world through numbers, and markets are the beautiful impartial scorekeeper. When I was a teenager I used to compare the price of things to Wendy’s cheeseburgers. “That’s like 35 Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers!” I would say in disbelief. When I was hungry I was more price sensitive of the ratio of…
The $4,500 Deductible
$4,537 can buy a lot of Skittles*. Or it can buy you the average single deductible for an unsubsidized enrollee with healthcare coverage on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges. At 3.4x less, the $1,350 average deductible for the 152 million who get their insurance through an employer looks benevolent. In spite of having the word “affordable”…
In Praise of the Six Page Narrative
Jeff Bezos of Amazon is famous for being customer-centric, so much so that Amazon’s annual letters proudly say, “We seek to be Earth’s most customer-centric company.” Shipping, easy returns, streaming, and Kindle are proof. “Free” 2-day shipping for Prime membership is a big part for me. So far this year I’ve ordered 54 packages, or…
The Case For Healthcare and Financial Literacy
12% and 33%. According to a 2015 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, only 12% of adults have a proficient state of healthcare literacy. That’s why goals to eliminate waste in the US healthcare system, help people to be better consumers, and shop for care, need to start with the front door,…
What is Medical Price Transparency Worth?
Shopping for medical care, like reducing food waste, or the adage that half of advertising is wasted*, is an exercise that first starts with disbelief (and even outrage), but a closer look keeps you grounded in reality. Simple observations are cheap. 99th percentiles masquerade as the norm. Some key findings and structural limits can guide…