Thursday Links

Posted on by John C. Goodman

Capretta’s eat-your-spinach reform idea for Medicare: cut benefits and raise taxes.

Florida’s answer to the doctor shortage: invite Latin American doctor to immigrate.

Study:  Taxes are a huge drag on innovation.

“All told, British patients had access to just 59% of the 460 drugs launched between 2012 and 2021, as of October 2022. American patients had access to 85% of those drugs—more than any other country in the world.”

1 thought on “Thursday Links”

  1. Thanks for printing the interview with James Capretta. He is a very good observer.

    At one point he brings up an idea that I have encountered before — including on this blog.

    He proposes that seniors be allowed to choose a less expensive health plan, with higher deductibles and lower reimbursements.

    He suggests that some providers will lower their prices in order to attract this demographic.

    That does not seem to be happening, in the employer market at least where deductibles have gone up and more subscribers have HRA accounts.

    Why haven’t we seen lower prices?

    I am not sure, but here are some possibilties:

    a. We will see lower prices, but it will take years

    b. Providers can focus on patients with more generous insurance.

    c. Providers have huge collection problems with people who have high deductibles.
    They are keeping their prices high because they need the revenue.

    Comments?

    Reply

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