- HSAs for gig workers.
- NYT buries the lead: in an article about DOGE, we learn in the 43rd paragraph that the government identified $236 billion of fraudulent government payments in 2023.
- Falling fertility is becoming a problem the entire world.
- Michael Cannon: the case against RFK Jr.
- People can use food stamps to purchase candy, ice cream, soft drinks, donuts, chips, and even birthday cakes – but not a rotisserie chicken.
Author: John C. Goodman
Friday Links
- Tomas Philipson: My calculations suggest that Medicare price controls will actually increase total health care spending by at least $30 billion over 20 years.
- More than 50,000 hospitals now qualify as “safety net” institutions that qualify for 340B status.
- A 2022 survey estimated that 100 million Americans carry medical debt, and nearly 80 percent of medical debt is held by households with zero or negative net worth.
- While increases in profits and cash reserves of nonprofit hospitals grow, charity care does not.
- KFF: health insurers operating through the federal exchanges denied 1 in 5 claims in 2023.
- “The cash price for a colonoscopy within a ten-mile radius of midtown Manhattan ranges from a low of $580 to a high of $4,355.”
Thursday Links
- Some universities get two-thirds of NIH grant money as “overhead.”
- “Trump should reinstate Obama’s moratorium on risky biological research.”
- Do ultra processed foods cause depression?
- Can weight loss drugs ruin your sex life? (NYT)
- From the time the FDA approves a medical device it takes 5.7 years before Medicare starts paying for it.
- Trump finally deals with the National Straw Crisis.