- Make payments site neutral – same fee, regardless of where the service is performed (hospital, out-patient clinic, doctor’s office, etc.)
- End Medicare’s bad-debt compensation program that reimburses hospitals for 65% of uncollected patient out-of-pocket costs.
- Get serious about tackling fraud.
- Recognize preventive medicine as a money saver rather than a money spender.
Author: John C. Goodman
How Joe Biden Wants to Save Medcare
| Trump (actual) | Biden Proposed | |
| Personal income tax top rate | 37% | 44.6% |
| Capital gains tax top rate (including NIIT) | 23.8% | 44.6% |
| Corporate tax | 21% | 28% |
| Tax on Unrealized Capital Gains | 0% | 25% |
| Medicare tax/NIIT | 3.8% | 5% |
| Stock Buyback tax | 0% | 4% |
Source: Committee to Unleash Prosperity
Friday Links
- An argument for mask wearing, even after the Cochrane Review meta-analysis.
- An early (and completely uncritical) history of medical licensing. To be paired with Regulation of Medical Care by moi — for balance.
- Why Daylight Savings Time matters: “The body releases sleep-time and wake-time hormones at a particular time.” Studies have shown that deadly car accidents, workplace injuries, and heart attacks increase following the springtime change.
- Should a face-to-face meeting be required before doctors prescribe a controlled substance for a patient?
- California to end Walgreens contract over abortion pills policy.
- What the Biden plan to “save” Medicare doesn’t do: repeal the Democrats’ IRA bill that takes $246 billion out of Medicare. (CBO p. 72)
Thursday Links
- Scott Atlas: How the experts got Covid science wrong.
- At least 2 in 5 U.S. adults said they are not willing to pay for 11 of the 12 preventive services currently required to be provided gratis by health insurance regulations. Since none of these services are cost effective for healthy people, that shows people are smarter than the politicians who imposed the regulation.
- The operational cleavage between the US public health and medical care systems inhibited our ability to contain the spread of COVID-19.
- A defense of Sharing health plans.
- On Biden’s plan to increase the Medicare net investment income tax from 3.8 to 5 percent for people earning over $400,000: A tax on capital is a tax on labor, including people who make a lot less than $400,000.