Former Fed economist, covering economics and politics in the Badger state, data geek, common sense is my super power.
Joined August 2015
- Tweets5.9K
- Following547
- Followers1.3K
- Likes7.4K
Healthcare in every country has problems they just differ. Great comparison of the US and France from a patient's perspective.
Armed guards at the door. Opioids offered on repeat. Apple Pay at my bedside. Welcome to the American Emergency Room.
The French think it bankrupts you. Americans think France does it for free. I’ve been to the ER in both. Both are wrong.
Mountain bike crash, dislocated and fractured shoulder. I’m French, I live in San Francisco, and I take slightly too many risks. Let’s compare.
Security
🇺🇸 Kaiser in Marin. Three armed guards and a metal detector. My phone set it off, so with my shoulder out of its socket I walked through again. And again. Then a pat-down.
🇫🇷 A couple of unarmed guys with walkie-talkies. Still not sure what they’re for.
Wait
🇺🇸 Three people in the waiting room. Seen in 15 to 30 minutes.
🇫🇷 Broken hand: packed room, 4 hours before anyone touched me.
Records
🇺🇸 Kaiser is vertically integrated. Insurer, hospital, doctors: one system. They had my file before I sat down.
🇫🇷 Every new doctor is a fresh context window. Zero history, maybe a printout from last time.
Infrastructure
🇺🇸 Small hospital, serious kit. Straight to the trauma bay: real bed, IV, vitals monitoring, ready for surgery if needed. All imaging on the spot.
🇫🇷 Broken hand: a plastic chair and a Doliprane.
Drugs
🇺🇸 Strong opioids were the default offer. I said no. They insisted. The doctor came in personally, confused why someone in that much pain would refuse. I stuck to Tylenol, an anti-inflammatory, to put the shoulder back in.
Yes, it hurt. No, I didn’t tap out. My mom is proud of me.
🇫🇷 Broken hand: Doliprane, opioids never mentioned. I have friends who got their shoulder popped back in with nothing at all.
US default: opioids. French default: Doliprane.
Bill
🇺🇸 Every nurse warned me: “You’re French, this bill is going to traumatize you.”
Before discharge, someone came to my bed to collect payment. Apple Pay, from the hospital bed. $300. For everything. On a ~$500/month Kaiser plan.
🇫🇷 A flat ~€20 ER fee, usually reimbursed by your mutuelle. The real bill shows up later, on your payslip (see below)
followup
🇺🇸 Kaiser called me right after to set up follow-up and physio, all in their system. So far, so good.
🇫🇷 Broken hand: discharged, figure it out yourself. A friend dislocated her finger. They put it back in wrong, sent her home with bad instructions, it locked up, and she needed surgery months later. Still not fixed.
“Free healthcare” in France
It’s not free when your marginal tax rate nears 70% with social charges. And if you want quality care fast, more and more people pay for private clinics anyway.
Verdict
One person, one data point. But the care was 10x better than anything I’ve had in France, for a price that’s completely fine.
France has a lot to learn.
And yes, I refused the narcotics to stay sharp enough to launch a NanoCorp from my hospital bed. Launch your first company run by an AI agent: nanocorp .so
Study released last week by the Cato Institute ranks Wisconsin 26th overall in economic freedom, 28th in terms of tax burden with high freedom New Hampshire taking top rank in both categories.
Predictably Illinois and Minnesota ranked very low in most categories. Let's not make Wisconsin more like Illinois and Minnesota.
The Cato study can be found at the link below. Also check out my article from the @badgerinstitute which looks specifically at how economic policies in Wisconsin differ from that of our two neighboring states.
cato.org/freedom-50-states/2…
Colorado Governor Polis (Democrat) is urging voters to reject an amendment that would increase that state's top income tax rate to 8.4%. Quite a contrast to Tony Evers who gleefully wanted to raise Wisconsin's top rate to 9.8%. Some Democrats understand economics, some don't.
The Badger Pundit 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 retweeted
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says America’s affordable housing crisis is largely caused by government regulations… and fixing it wouldn’t require another dollar of government spending: “Good public policy is free.” 🇺🇸
“Good public policy is free. If we do a better job with schools, it’s free. If we improve our regulatory system, it’s free.
I’m not just talking about banks, by the way. You could be a restaurant. You could be a small business. It’s terrible—federal, state, local permitting.
The affordable housing problem? It’s all regulatory stuff. You can’t build a multifamily building. You can’t put this here. It doesn’t have enough parking. It’s got to have all these things.
We can fix this stuff, and it’s free. The government doesn’t have to borrow more money to fix it.
We already spend the money. We just need to fix the system.
We should all get involved in fixing these policies that would make our country work far better. Deregulation is part of it.”
Tough to argue with Jamie here, if you need an example, just look at Canada or Europe. The most unaffordable housing markets driven by over regulation and over permitting.
A perfect illustration of the Streisand effect, also known as psychological reactance. When you hide or apologize for something, you end up drawing attention to it.
Had the archbishop said nothing, few would have taken note. But because he did, millions have now seen the images of him and his fellow religious praying with President Trump.
Tiffany's strategy for affordability makes sense. Crowley's doesn't.
We have real time evidence from Europe.
Crowley wants more government spending, $6+ billion more.
If government spending lowered living costs, then it should be cheap to live in France. Government spending in France is 57% of that country's GDP versus 38% in the USA.
But for the last 6 weeks, France has been gripped by violent rioters whose major complaint is ... wait for it ... the high cost of living.
Massive government spending didn't make France affordable. Won't work in Wisconsin either.
Tiffany's plan for deregulation brings down the cost of production.
More production means there's more stuff to buy -> prices fall.
Greater productivity -> higher wages.
Lower prices, higher wages -> living standards go up.
It's not that hard to understand. It's just basic economics.
WATCH: Not only will @DavidCCrowley raise your taxes, but he'll pile on INCREASED vehicle registration fees, title fees, and TOLLS on Wisconsin roads.
How does this help with affordability?
David Crowley won't stop raising taxes and fees until we're just like Illinois.
Sending this helpful message to anyone suffering from Israel Derangement Syndrome especially my good friend @RepMarkPocan. Help is out there.
Oh the irony! @WiStateJournal, which was rescued from near-insolvency by Florida billionaire David Hoffman, endorses man who continuously rails against ... (you guessed it) ... billionaires.
Wisconsin’s next governor needs to make good decisions for the entire state, independent from Washington’s caustic influence. madison.com/opinion/editoria…
"Largely peaceful protests"??? Saw this on a blog so I checked for the original on X. No, this is not from The Babylon Bee. It's genuine. The legacy media is run by clowns.
Interesting article on universal licensing recognition (link), something I delve into in my article for the @BadgerInstitute.
Quote from article: "States that have adopted universal recognition receive an influx of new tax filers, better access to doctors for their residents, and a more than 48% increase in inflows of the most affected workers."
More tax filers. More doctors. More workers. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.
washingtontimes.com/news/202…
Great moments in Wisconsin journalism. Mr. Bentley's X header lists previous affiliations with the @journalsentinel and the @WiStateJournal. Figures.
I'll wait for more evidence before passing judgment. However, just like the claims in the report below, hearsay evidence was the basis of the first Trump impeachment. If hearsay was good enough for the Democrats and legacy media then, it's good enough now. So if the Dems, Crowley and the legacy media find themselves hoist on their own petard, they'll get no sympathy from me.
NEW: A Democrat insider has alleged that Wisconsin's Democrat gubanatorial candidate first cut a deal to drop out and endorse a rival in exchange for $250,000 and a job for his wife. After his rival's campaign imploded, he got back in:
dailywire.com/news/pay-to-no…
More blue on blue violence. Why any sensible person would want the most obnoxious people in Wisconsin running the state is beyond me.
Mayor of Madison says Democrats/Socialists have created a toxic environment in her city. Let's not let Madison-style hate, violence, and rudeness become the norm in the rest of Wisconsin. Support @TomTiffanyWI
Madison Mayor @SatyaForMadison says in a statement announcing she won't seek reelection that "local democracy is at risk" from a "toxic political culture that is transcending partisanship and ideology."
The Badger Pundit 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 retweeted
Rewatch this video from @TheOtherMandela in light of the breaking Quid Pro Quo allegations against @DavidCCrowley.
Could this be one of the dirty tricks Barnes was implying about the primary?
Well put. That socialist mind virus runs deep in Wisconsin.
Crowley himself said that he has the same policy priorities as socialist Francesca Hong. Don't believe me? See the next post.
