With the Left in love with the idea of a national health program like Medicare-for-All, it’s wise to compare experiences other countries have with similar programs. Historically the British National Health Service (NHS) emphasized easy access to primary care, while rationing more costly services of specialists and expensive drugs. Lately the NHS is even experiencing problems with access to primary care.
Monday Links
- What’s wrong with Thanksgiving. “Land acknowledgements”: There is no legal sense in which the land on which they are being performed belongs to a Native American tribe.
- Why Trump’s pick to head the Department of Labor is worrisome.
- Why identity politics no longer works: “Among people who married in 2022, 32 percent of Asian Americans married outside their ethnic group, as did 30 percent of Hispanics, 23 percent of Black people and 15 percent of white people. In one Pew survey 58 percent of Hispanics also identified as white.” (NYT)
- How much of chronic illness is due to the food we eat?
- Medicare drug payments vary widely:
In central Illinois, Centene priced the cancer drug Lapatinib at $3,622, while Humana’s price was double the amount. It costs $10,000 in certain parts of California and more than $12,000 in the center of Pennsylvania.
Study: Solo Seniors Rely on Informal Networks of Friends and Family for Assisted Living
America is facing a long-term care (LTC) crisis. By some accounts, about 70% of adults over age 65 will need long term care at some point. The supply of LTC facilities is far too low to meet demand, a fact unlikely to change considering few Americans have LTC insurance.