About 30 million school kids qualify for free or low-cost school lunches through the National School Lunch Program. A dozen years ago a federal law tightened school lunch nutritional requirements with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. The federal law hoped to increase school kids intake of vegetables, fruits, fiber, grains and unsweetened beverages. The federal initiative was in response to findings that children who got free lunches were gaining more weight than higher income children not in the program. Prior to the tightened federal standards, low-income children enrolled in the school lunch program were more likely to have a body mass index closer to the obesity threshold than their higher-income peers. Rather than alleviate hunger, there was concern that the school lunch program was contributing to childhood obesity. According to the CDC, 21% of kids age 6 to 11 are obese, while 17% of adolescents age 12 to 19 are obese. Nearly 10% have severe obesity.
Category: Devon Herrick
Drug Maker’s Copay Assistance Ended Up in Drug Plans’ Pockets
A while back I wrote about drug company copay assistance programs. The purpose of these is to entice patients to use higher-cost brand drugs by blunting health plan incentives for enrollees to choose lower-cost drug options.
Why the Markup on a $50,000 Knee Surgery is 500%
Few hospitals in the United States have any idea what their costs are to perform various surgeries. The second most common surgery in U.S. hospitals after those related to childbirth is knee replacement. The price is more than $50,000 at Gundersen Health System’s hospital in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The facility has been systematically raising the price of knee surgery about 3% every year. None of administrators had any idea how much was profit and how much was the cost of nursing care, labor, overhead, supplies, etc. Gundersen, like most U.S. hospitals, didn’t know the cost because they do not face still competition and are not competing on price. Unlike most U.S. hospitals, however, Gundersen set out to find out its cost.
Medicare Drug Prices Change Frequently, Seniors Should Learn about Options
An article by Kaiser Health News explained that Medicare Part D drug plans can change individual drug prices and/or cost sharing soon after open enrollment closes. For instance, a recent analysis by AARP found that about a month after Medicare drug plans went into effect, prices had risen by 8% on 75 of the most frequently used drugs. Seniors who select a plan specifically for its price on a given drug are likely disappointed when prices rise, or copays increase. Yet, once in a plan seniors cannot switch to another plan until the next open enrollment period at the end of the year.