- Estimates of the percentage of Medicare costs that arise from patients in the last year of life range from 13% to 25%, with the latest estimates tending toward the higher number.
- RFK Jr. has become pro-vaccine.
- “Under the TCJA, each income group received a tax cut, but the highest-income groups received the smallest cuts relative to their total tax burden.”
- Less than half of Medicaid recipients work enough to comply with a work requirement.
- Ken Thorpe on why the IRA bill could hurt chronic patients.
- It’s been a long time since we have seen an execution buy firing squad. (WaPo) I’ve always thought it is the manly way to go.
Foreign-Trained Physicians Can Ease the Doctor Shortage
The United States has a physician shortage, and residency is the bottleneck. The U.S. does not have a shortage of medical school graduates who would like to practice medicine, however. States should pursue these as an opportunity to address the growing physician shortage.
Read More at KFF Health News: States Facing Doctor Shortages Ease Licensing Rules for Foreign-Trained Physicians
Wednesday Links
- “The U.S. recently surpassed the unfortunate milestone where all new federal revenue is already committed to specific spending priorities set in the law. Before Congress even appropriates a dime, the revenues have already been spent.”
- What’s wrong with the British economy: “The nation is gripped by laws and customs that make essentials unacceptably scarce and drive up the cost of construction across the board.”
- Why doesn’t health insurance typically cover sensor-based measures, collecting data from wearables and smart technologies, often continuously and outside the clinic?
- Trump defunds the Obamacare navigators. Beverly Gossage on the defunding:
Why pay unlicensed navigator associations that hire people with no insurance background to “help” people sign up with Obamacare when there are over 100,000 agents nationwide who are licensed, regulated, and ,,, who could do a better job of assisting them — with no tax payer dollars spent to fund them.
Rx Drugs are a Great Value, Sometimes…
I’ve often said that drugs are the best deal in health care. However, that bargain is diminishing. A few years ago, drugs represented about 10% of health care expenditures, physician care about 20% and hospital inpatient care about 30%. Today, drug spending is 11%, while hospital spending is nearly one-third. The absolute best deal in health care are over-the-counter drugs (OTC).