Monthly Archives: June 2017

ACA versus GOP plans side-by-side

This article from the LA Times by columnist Noam Levey links an update on earlier postings online that does a side-by-side comparison of ACA versus the GOP’s replacement AHCA plan. That posting provides the best concise overview I have seen of the latest GOP AHCA proposal. It will take 10 minutes to review/read. Randy

Here is the comparison

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-na-pol-obamacare-repeal/

 

Here is the new article, which features specific effects.

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-pol-obamacare-repeal-chaos-20170625-story.html

 

From: Levey, Noam [mailto:Noam.Levey@latimes.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2017 9:44 PM
To: Levey, Noam
Subject: ICYMI: New article on the disruptive impact of the Senate repeal bill

Good day,

In case you missed it, I wanted to share my latest piece examining the potentially devastating impact of the recently released Senate legislation to roll back the Affordable Care Act.

The Republican architects of the bill, like their House counterparts, hail their legislation as a remedy for ills caused by the current law. But across the country, in physicians’ offices and medical centers, in state capitols and corporate offices, there is widespread fear the unprecedented cuts in the GOP bills would create even larger problems in the U.S. healthcare system, threatening to not only strip health coverage from millions, but also upend insurance markets, cripple state budgets and drive medical clinics and hospitals to the breaking point. As Tom Tom Priselac, chief executive of Cedars Sinai Health System in Los Angeles, told me: “These reductions are going to wreak havoc.”

Here is the link: http://www.latimes.com/la-na-pol-obamacare-repeal-chaos-20170625-story.html

I hope you find the piece interesting. Thank you, as always, for reading. All best,

-N

Noam N. Levey

National healthcare reporter

Los Angeles Times Washington Bureau

Tel: 202-824-8317

Cell: 202-247-0811

noam.levey@latimes.com

twitter: @NoamLevey

Performance Timer is excellent App

I was at a conference last week and learned about a terrific timer for my iPhone called Performance Timer. It counts down your specified time, and then changes from green to red as you go over.

What makes it superior to the default iPhone timer is its large font, there is no alarm when time is up, and your screen never goes blank, so you can read it for your entire talk. Really easy interface for the stressful time that you are setting it up. Or, if you are the timekeeper for someone else, they will be able to read it from 20 feet.

It is free in the Apple App store.  I looked but did not find the Android version.

Here is a review from the web.

Performance Timer on the App Store - iTunes - Apple

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/performance-timer/id957648886?mt=8

Rating: 5 - ‎9 reviews - ‎Free - ‎iOS - ‎Utilities/Tools

Description

Performance Timer is a large-display countdown timer developed to be used to monitor the time remaining in a performance, presentation, etc. Performance Timer does not sound an alarm when the time runs out. Rather, when the timer reaches zero, the numbers turn red and the timer starts counting up so that you can see how long you've gone over your target time. The time can be set from 1 to 99 minutes.

Excellent articles about machine learning and replication

There is a wonderful article about Machine learning in the spring 2017 issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, and there is also a series of four fine articles in the AER May 2017. I decided to share as a BUHealth blog to all.

Whether you are curious, newly interested or an expert working in the area, I recommend the JEP one to you. The AER series is for more serious work. Here are the links (They should all be free to access, since they are all at the AEA.) Also see below for links on replication.

Machine Learning: An Applied Econometric Approach

Download Full Text PDF
(Complimentary)

 

Machine Learning in Econometrics (May, 2017)

Double/Debiased/Neyman Machine Learning of Treatment Effects

Victor Chernozhukov, Denis Chetverikov, Mert Demirer, Esther Duflo, Christian Hansen and Whitney Newey

(pp. 261-65)

Testing-Based Forward Model Selection

Damian Kozbur

(pp. 266-69)

Core Determining Class and Inequality Selection

Ye Luo and Hai Wang

(pp. 274-77)

Estimating Average Treatment Effects: Supplementary Analyses and Remaining Challenges

Susan Athey, Guido Imbens, Thai Pham and Stefan Wager

(pp. 278-81)

 

The series in the AER on Replication in microeconomics will also be of interest.  This article title speaks for itself.

A Preanalysis Plan to Replicate Sixty Economics Research Papers That Worked Half of the Time

Replication in Microeconomics

Assessing the Rate of Replication in Economics

James Berry, Lucas C. Coffman, Douglas Hanley, Rania Gihleb and Alistair J. Wilson

(pp. 27-31)

Replications in Development Economics

Sandip Sukhtankar

(pp. 32-36)

Replication in Labor Economics: Evidence from Data, and What It Suggests

Daniel S. Hamermesh

(pp. 37-40)

A Proposal to Organize and Promote Replications

Lucas C. Coffman, Muriel Niederle and Alistair J. Wilson

(pp. 41-45)

Replication and Ethics in Economics: Thirty Years after Dewald, Thursby, and Anderson

What Is Meant by "Replication" and Why Does It Encounter Resistance in Economics?

Maren Duvendack, Richard Palmer-Jones and W. Robert Reed

(pp. 46-51)

Replication and Economics Journal Policies

Jan H. Höffler

(pp. 52-55)

Replication, Meta-analysis, and Research Synthesis in Economics

Richard G. Anderson and Areerat Kichkha

(pp. 56-59)

A Preanalysis Plan to Replicate Sixty Economics Research Papers That Worked Half of the Time

Andrew C. Chang and Phillip Li

(pp. 60-64)