I follow a couple doctors on YouTube who talk about health & wellness issues. My wife has her own set of influencers who discuss health, cellular biology and antiaging, among other things. A couple are doctors, another is a PhD geneticist at Harvard. There is no end to the amount of health information available on…
Author: Devon Herrick
In Praise of (Outgoing) FDA Commissioner Marty Makary
When the Senate set about confirming Dr. Makary, the view was that Trump had appointed a qualified, talented, noncontroversial commissioner. Yet, the mood inside the FDA turned sour immediately, although this was not necessarily Makary’s fault.
Tackle Widespread Food Stamp Waste, Fraud and Abuse
The USDA recently began an initiative to battle food stamp fraud and abuse. Existing loopholes in federal regulations require no asset test to qualify. Thus, recipients can live in large houses and drive luxury cars but still qualify for the SNAP program if their income appears low enough on paper. According to the Secretary of Agriculture, 14,000 individuals from just one red state drive luxury cars, including three Bentleys, three Ferraris, three Lamborghinis, 59 Maseratis and 141 Porsches.
High-Deductible Plans are Increasing but Need Important Reforms
I’m a fan of high-deductible health plans, but the premiums under Obamacare are too high compared to the benefits. Plans should be able to offer annual and lifetime caps on benefits to reduce premiums further. Obamacare’s ban on annual and lifetime benefits is what allowed drug prices and the price of some medical procedures to reach the stratosphere. In addition, with hospitals acquiring physician practices many consumers are being steered to hospital owned facilities which have higher prices.