- Real 403B reform would “require that savings are passed directly to patients at the pharmacy counter—not buried in hospital spreadsheets.”
- 31% of men ages 25-40 who are not working full-time collected some form of cash or cash-equivalent benefit in the form of food stamps, Social Security for disability, Supplemental Security Income, or unemployment insurance in the prior year.
- China v. the U.S.: China’s share of total world gross domestic product has grown from 3.5 percent in 2000 to just under 17 percent today, while the US has gone from 30 percent to 26 percent. During this same period, China has gone from 6 percent to over 30 percent of total world manufacturing output, while the US has fallen from 25 percent to 17 percent.
- Covid update: The parents most reluctant to send their kids back to school in blue cities in the spring of 2021 were black and Hispanic, research has consistently found, not white. And the most organized opposition to school reopening came from teachers’ unions,
- The case for turning Social Security into a flat benefit.
- House Medicaid reforms graph by graph.
- The House reconciliation package will add at least $3.3 trillion to the debt through 2034.
How to Save Money on Prescription Drugs
Years ago I wrote about how to save money on prescription drugs. I periodically updated the report. It was popular with reporters at a time when consumers were worried about the excessive cost of drugs. This was before Obamacare (2010) when many people did not have drug coverage. While perusing the Internet I ran across a recent article on the same topic. It included many of my old tips, so I thought it worth discussing.
Friday Links
- The plan that is now being debated in the House has net spending reductions of roughly $1.2 trillion. Instead of spending $89.3 trillion, the “cruel” Republicans want to only spend $88.1 trillion – a measly 1.5% cut.
- “Our research finds that the growing presence of asylum seekers [illegal immigrants] residing in homeless shelters explains about 60 percent of this rise in sheltered homelessness.”
- “The Trump administration handed Medicare Advantage plans a massive gift on Monday, finalizing payment rates for 2026 significantly higher than what regulators in the Biden administration sketched out.”
- An “intelligent” hospital room allows for virtual nursing.
- Antarctica’s massive ice sheet is growing, not shrinking.
How Much Innovation is Too Much Innovation?
This is a happy story about a baby saved from death and disability caused by developmental delays. This type of technology could really transform health care, but at a huge cost. The baby was an inpatient in the hospital for nine months to control rising ammonia levels due to the genetic defect. The lead researchers collaborated with others to develop the technique that would be used to edit the precise gene that was lacking or malfunctioning. The race to develop the custom gene editing therapy was a herculean effort involving teams from numerous institutions.