Qizhulu Yan Binke vol.120: Japan’s Medical System
This podcast talked about how Japan came out of its health insurance collapse, which offers some inspiration for China’s current situation and future. Japan’s health insurance can be divided into the collapse period from 1990 to 2005, and the rebirth period from 2005 to today. From the demand side, meaning people, the Japanese government actually predicted very early that aging would get worse. But because it underestimated both the speed of aging and the occupation of medical resources by chronic diseases among the elderly, the health insurance policy nearly collapsed. Now, although aging is more serious, Japanese doctors use free health checks and early prevention, which greatly reduces the speed and probability of chronic disease. From the demand side in terms of funding, Japan now has full coverage, upper limits, and an independent insurance system for the elderly. The supply side is divided into three parts: medical services, capital injection, and drugs. During the collapse period, Japan had a huge shortage of doctors and intense doctor-patient conflict. During the rebirth period, Japan implemented triage, community-based care, and improved medical efficiency. In terms of funding supply, Japan during the collapse period had a “medical expenses could destroy the country” crisis, similar to China today. Therefore, the government implemented medical reduction bills and low-cost medical care, but the results were terrible. After reform, Japan implemented DPC and developed rehabilitation therapy. Drug policy is the part China can learn from the most. During the collapse period, centralized procurement’s low-price bidding strategy caused a drug quality crisis and an innovative drug crisis, and Japan’s pharmaceutical industry entered a depression. So the government implemented pricing reform, where the government sets the price and companies compete on quality at the same price, mergers and restructuring of small and medium enterprises, where innovative companies acquired generic drug makers, and pharmacist reform. The conclusion is that the impossible triangle of quality, price, and scale may be balanced.
East Meets West #339: Chinese Short Dramas Land in Hollywood
Short dramas are now entering the US market in large numbers. Usually, scripts that became popular in China are taken directly to LA and filmed with local actors. Compared with traditional TV dramas, short dramas are low-cost, fast, and have little depth in plot. Also, capital has a lot of power, and the director is only responsible for the script: investors choose actors based on big data, selecting them according to traits such as hair color and eye color. The Hollywood union strikes reduced jobs, so even the best people have to compete for lower-tier shows, causing many directors, staff, and actors to flow into short dramas.
What’s Next S9E07: Tesla Plunges, US Stocks Pull Back
Tesla’s plunge has little to do with the malicious short selling claimed by many Musk fans, such as Soros and others. The main reason is that after Trump took office, his performance fell short of expectations, causing the Trump premium across Tesla, digital currencies, Trump companies, and so on to fall back to pre-election levels. NVIDIA needs a new narrative. Although after DeepSeek came out, positive and negative views were still battling, it is no longer unquestioned like before. Once people start questioning, a new narrative that everyone accepts is needed to support such a high valuation.
What’s Next S8E32: Google’s Willow Quantum Computing Chip
Google’s new chip has 100 qubits and supports error correction, but a large-scale commercial chip needs 1 million qubits, so there is still a long way to go. In the long term, blockchain and current encryption methods may have the possibility of being cracked.
LatePost Talk 107: Haivivi’s AI Jellycat with Monthly Revenue in the Tens of Millions
The guest used to lead the Tmall Genie team. They found that the users who interacted with Tmall Genie the most were children, so they left to start a company making AI plush toys. The main focus is the companionship market, because they do not want to compete with big companies in education, and large model capabilities are more suitable for plush toy companionship. In children’s eyes, it is normal for a plush toy to talk, so there is no need for the education market. For adults, it is the same, because the biggest buyers of plush toys now are actually young people, since they provide emotional value.