Healthcare data

Healthcare data is hard to evaluate especially when so much information is being communicated and interpreted by the mainstream media with an agenda and politicians who conspire to radically transform the free-market system by deceiving the public with data. “Facts never lie. But liars use facts.”

Healthcare data, therefore, must be accessible to all and in a form approachable to the average voter. Here at Opinion Times, we receive many requests for the best places to verify information about the state of healthcare in this country. Below are some links to various organizations which tabulate the state of healthcare in the United States. And, we’ll continue to update this post as well as add others to help you make sense of it all.

Heritage Foundation has an excellent repository of articles and data analysis on healthcare. Here are some specific articles you should read:

• They have set up a website, Fix Health Care Policy, which is a treasure trove of information.
• A Principled Path to Rational Health Care Reform
• The Obama Health Care Plan: More Power to Washington

The CATO Institute has a Healtcare University series which answers many questions about the state of healthcare in our country and ideas for how to approach real reform.

The Heartland Institute has an excellent study on Obamacare.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has a tremendous website called StateHealthFacts.org with state-by-state data.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) has a databook on employee benefits nationwide. Excellent resource. It’ll take you some time to wade through it, but worth it if you are trying to do research on the issue. They also publish FastFacts, a quick review of various employee benefits issues.

The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality keeps statistics on healthcare in the United States. They have MEPSnet, a searchable database for healthcare cost statistics. There is a database for individual healthcare data and insurance healthcare data.

The Centers for Disease Control has a health statistics center with loads of information.