I calculated what my ($4,000) Costa Rican dental work in 2021 would have cost in the United States. My back of the envelope math is about $12,000. Previous trips cost about $2,000 if I recall, including the implant, oral surgery with bone graft, panoramic x-ray, deep cleaning and two crowns. Basically, what would have cost more than $18,000 in Dallas was about $6,000 in Costa Rica. The quality is great and it was one-third the price.
What Happens When Seniors’ Share of Drug Costs Goes Down?
The change: Under the ACA, the coinsurance rate in the “donut hole” is being reduced from 100% in 2011 to 25% in 2022.
The results: No change in drug use. No change in total spending. But seniors did switch from generic to brand drugs more often.
Click her to view/download the Study
HT: Jason Shafrin
New CBO Report on Single Payer Health Plan
Chris Jacobs writes:
The report makes for bracing reading. Funding an increase in spending equal to 10 percent of GDP—the cost of the most robust single-payer option—by an increase in labor taxes alone would require the average tax rate paid on labor income to more than double, from 17.7 percent in 2020 to 38.4 percent in 2030. Conversely, using a progressive income tax that applies to both labor and capital would triple capital gains average rates, from 15. 4 percent in 2020 to 45.4 percent in 2030.
As for the economic effects, this is from the CBO’s previous report:
When is an FDA-Approved Drug Not a Drug?
In 2018 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) suddenly removed Auryxia (ferric citrate) from the Medicare Part D drug formulary and began to require prior authorization for the few indications it would reimburse. CMS gave little information about the reversal but apparently made the decision because it views ferric citrate at a mineral product, like dietary supplements such as Vitamin C. Dietary supplements are not covered by Medicare except in a few cases.