David Cutler: evaluation

Transcript context

…What do you think of the — I call them the residual theories? That there’s something unknown in the environment. It could be a chemical, something in the way we live that’s causing obesity levels to increase, and we just haven’t identified it yet. Do you take this seriously? Or are they just made-up stuff? I do take it seriously as a theory, absolutely. One of the things that I think the literature has not been as good at as it could be is the impact of the environment — not just environment in terms of green space and ability to walk on the streets, but the impact of the environment in terms of pollution and exposure to various substances and what that may then do to health. Go back a ways. It took a long, long time to figure out what it was in tobacco that led to cancer and heart disease and so on because there are just so many things out there, and you don’t really know all the combinations and what’s being burnt. So, as theories, I absolutely think they’re important. At the moment, I don’t know of enough evidence to say for certain, these are some of the things that we need to worry about. There’s been much more on the pollution end with respiratory disease, where there’s obviously a very good link, but also, there have been recent hints about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in the elderly. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these environmental factors turn out to be bigger than we had thought, but I don’t have anything yet that I look at and say, “Okay, this is obviously definitive on this point.” Why is hospital price transparency so hard to achieve? We’ve passed laws — good laws, in my opinion. The Trump people were for them and doubled down on the issue. When hospitals don’t do it, they get a slap on the wrist. Maybe they’re sent a letter in the mail. Voters seem to like the idea. Why has that been such a tough slog?…

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