Health

Let’s look at some data on mean annual physician income in the U.S. compared to other countries: U.S.: $458,100 Canada: $194,700 Netherlands: $185,700 Sweden: $115,200 Why are U.S. physician incomes so much higher than other developed countries? Is it a good idea to try to drive down physician incomes? An NBER working paper by Buehler…

From a Mark et al. (2026) paper published in Health Affairs last week: …from 2000 through 2021, mental health and SUD nominal spending grew from $40.9 billion to $139.6 billion. Mental health and SUD accounted for 4.5 percent of all medical services spending in 2000 and 5.5 percent in 2021. Real per capita mental health and SUD spending grew…

That is the title of a paper published today with co-authors Arundati Nagendra (from the Schizophrenia and Psychosis Action Alliance), Raquelle Mesholam-Gately and Matcheri Keshavan (both at the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School). The abstract is here: Background Schizophrenia is traditionally classified as a serious mental illness (SMI), emphasizing chronicity and disability. However,…

Healthcare Economist was once again named one of the top economics blogs (#37) by FeedSpot. What other blogs were in the top 100? Check out the full list here. I was also ranked as one of the top economic blogs of 2026 by the Intelligent Economist as well.

How to communicate your health policy research. JP Morgan employees sue employer over health benefits. Are insurers’ promised preauthorization reforms becoming a reality? The secret to happiness? Let’s gooooo!