How to explore Scott Alexander's work and his 1500+ blog posts? This unaffiliated fan website lets you sort and search through the whole codex. Enjoy!

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May 10, 2024
acx

Highlights From The Comments On Hanson And Health Care

44 min • 6,090 words • 184 comments • 76 likes • podcast (39 min)
Scott Alexander summarizes comments on his healthcare effectiveness debate with Robin Hanson, including clarifications, study author responses, and reader perspectives on various healthcare topics. Longer summary
This post highlights comments on Scott Alexander's recent discussion with Robin Hanson about healthcare effectiveness. It includes responses from Robin Hanson clarifying his position, comments from the authors of a study on health insurance and mortality, and various reader perspectives on healthcare, medical waste, and specific medical treatments. The post touches on topics like the statistical analysis of healthcare studies, the value of preventive medicine, and the complexities of measuring healthcare outcomes. Shorter summary
Apr 24, 2024
acx

Contra Hanson On Medical Effectiveness

56 min • 7,795 words • 531 comments • 160 likes • podcast (44 min)
Scott Alexander challenges Robin Hanson's claim that medicine doesn't work by analyzing health insurance studies and presenting evidence of medicine's effectiveness. Longer summary
Scott Alexander critiques Robin Hanson's claim that medicine doesn't work, analyzing three major health insurance experiments (RAND, Oregon, and Karnataka) and other studies. He argues that these studies are underpowered to detect medication effects and don't support Hanson's conclusion, citing evidence of medicine's effectiveness in improving survival rates for various diseases. Shorter summary
Apr 24, 2020
ssc

Employer Provided Health Insurance Delenda Est

10 min • 1,387 words • 465 comments • podcast (9 min)
Scott Alexander presents numerous examples of how the U.S. employer-provided health insurance system fails even insured, well-off individuals, arguing that almost any alternative system would be better. Longer summary
Scott Alexander critiques the employer-provided health insurance system in the United States, presenting numerous real-life examples of how it fails even well-off, insured individuals. He argues that the system creates unnecessary barriers to care, disrupts continuity of treatment, and traps people in undesirable life situations. The post illustrates how the current system fails not just the poor and uninsured, but also those who seemingly should benefit from it. Scott concludes that virtually any other healthcare system would resolve these issues. Shorter summary
Apr 20, 2020
ssc

The Amish Health Care System

31 min • 4,269 words • 557 comments • podcast (26 min)
Scott Alexander examines the Amish health care system, which costs much less than the American system while maintaining good health outcomes, and considers its implications for broader healthcare policy. Longer summary
Scott Alexander explores the Amish health care system, comparing it to the modern American system. He notes that the Amish spend much less on healthcare while maintaining good health outcomes, though they have slightly lower life expectancy. The Amish system relies on church aid and a simple insurance-like institution called Amish Hospital Aid. Key factors in their lower costs include collective bargaining, avoiding unnecessary care, not suing doctors, and price-sensitive consumption. Scott considers the applicability of this system to wider society and reflects on how healthcare costs have changed over time, suggesting a possible self-reinforcing cycle between rising costs and the spread of health insurance. Shorter summary