25th
The NYTimes article (can you tell what I read in the morning?) is about companies fighting proposed competitive bidding legislation that would bring down the $ medicare pays for medical equipment (like walkers) which would then filter down to patients. In some ways the system right now has some positive points because Congress effectively outsources research to groups with a vested interest in the outcome who would probably leave less stones unturned. The problem comes when interests are weighted by $ contributions or the interests of those in power or certain groups don’t have the resources to do the requisite research or they don’t have the political access to make their interests known or there is an asymmetry of access to information or there are barriers to organizing groups of people with similar interests. These are a lot of problems.
