Drugs are the most efficient of all medical therapies, representing only about 8.8% of national health expenditures. By contrast, at $864.6 billion in 2021, Americans spent more than twice as much on physician care and 3.5 times as much on hospital care. Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are especially economical, most of which were once prescription drugs. OTC drugs represent between 1% and 2% of medical spending.
Author: Devon Herrick
Long-Term Care is a Growing Problem (that has no easy solution)
Long-term care is expensive. By expensive, I mean break-the-bank expensive. As people begin to live longer, they don’t always live well longer. Medical science can keep people alive long after they are no longer able to function. The lack of affordable long-term care is a problem that has no easy solution.
Should Employers Fund Rare Disease Research and Therapies?
Included in Friday Links (November 10) was the title, “Would coverage for gene therapies make employer-based health insurance unaffordable?” That raises an important question: How much should employers (and employees) be required to pay for hyper-expensive therapies very few people need? A related question: should the purpose of employee health coverage be to recruit and retain workers or fund rare disease research and therapies?
Meditation & Mindfulness: Relief from Anxiety and Stress or a New Age Pseudoscience?
If you like to slow down and clear your mind through a structured mindfulness activity every day, feel free to do so. Just don’t think it will cure your multiple myeloma.