Cancer is a dreaded disease. People often worry more about getting cancer than heart disease, the No. 1 killer more likely to take their lives. Indeed, Mutual of Omaha sent me applications for cancer coverage on several occasions. I’ve heard those policies are very profitable for insurance companies because people far over-estimate their risk of…
Friday Links
- AEI reforms the health care system: antitrust, price transparency and site neutrality for hospitals; Medicare Part B and 340B reforms for drugs.
- Why electronic medical records aren’t working.
- The downside of making the overdose reversal drug naloxone an over-the-counter drug: most health insurance doesn’t pay for OTC drugs.
- Study: telehealth significantly reduced opioid overdoses during the pandemic.
- Americans want less government spending, but not on any program you are likely to think of.
Why Physicians in Training are Joining a Union
Physician residency is a training program required in all 50 states before medical school graduates are allowed to practice medicine. Residency programs last from three to seven years depending on the specialty. Medical residencies are apprenticeships, where recent medical school graduates care for hospital patients under the direct and indirect supervision of senior doctors who train them.
Is Medicare Running Out of Money?
Here is the actual state of affairs.
Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) has a trust fund and a payroll tax.
For many years, the receipts from payroll taxes exceeded the benefits paid out. So, the trust fund was in surplus. The extra funds were spent on other government programs and special government bonds were created, but not the kind of bond that is bought and sold on Wall Street. They were basically IOUs the government wrote to itself.