Hardly a day goes by but what I see an article linking something to better health and longevity. For instance, I just read sleep is correlated with longevity. A recent article claimed a consistent sleep schedule is more important than getting eight hours of sleep per night. Another article I read was similar to the Blue Zones post I earlier wrote about, claiming Seventh Day Adventists in Loma Linda, California live longer than average. Marriage helps you live longer (insert joke about not necessarily living longer but it feels longer). Intermittent fasting boosts longevity in mouse models and is thought to boost longevity in humans as well. Also, positive views about aging helps you live longer. Of course, those in good health probably tend to have more positive views of getting older than those in poor health, so take that with a grain of salt. Purportedly, friends boost your health and longevity. That too could be a self-selecting proxy for better health, since the ability to get together with friends is easier when in good health. Finally the Wall Street Journal writes that dogs help you live longer.
Wednesday Links
- When a key employee leaves: OpenAI is in open chaos.
- More on Sam Altman: he believed his company’s products could kill us all.
- Social Security’s Widows Scam: Some 13,000 widows have been effectively defrauded out of over $130 million dollars.
- 59 percent of Americans say money can buy happiness. How much money? Around $1.2 million.
- Why choice of a doctor matters: Between the top and bottom quartiles of spending, 79% of the difference is due to utilization and 19% is due to a difference in prices.
Tuesday Links
- Is there anything wrong with using AI apps to decide on pre authorization denials for patients?
- Space has a garbage problem: There are 34,260 objects tracked in orbit, and just 25% of them are working satellites.
- Spending on the elderly is baked in – seniors get their benefits no matter what Congress does. But most programs for children require reauthorization – and spending gets stalled by the congressional stop gap funding process.
- A California hospital billed $10.2 billion in gross charges in the last quarter. But 86% of this amount disappeared after discounts to the payers were applied.
- A libertarian is elected president in Argentina. John Fund: “A century ago Argentina was one of the six wealthiest countries in the world. Now it ranks 66th, below Mexico and just above Russia.”
What Is a Drug? Philosopher Struggles but the FDA Has its Own Definition
Drugs are the most efficient of all medical therapies, representing only about 8.8% of national health expenditures. By contrast, at $864.6 billion in 2021, Americans spent more than twice as much on physician care and 3.5 times as much on hospital care. Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are especially economical, most of which were once prescription drugs. OTC drugs represent between 1% and 2% of medical spending.