Today is the deadline for the Trump Administration to decide whether it should defend a Biden-era rule beefing up enforcement of mental health parity and addiction coverage. It should not bother. Mental health parity is a set of rules and regulations that require health plans to cover mental health treatments to the same level as it does for physical health. The original act dates back to 1996, while addiction equity of treatment was added in 2008. At its most basic, mental health parity requires health plans to cover mental health conditions to the same dollar limits as physical health care.
Category: Affordable Care Act
NYT: Preventive Care Under Attack at Supreme Court
Whether or not it is a good idea to mandate preventive service is a worthy debate. The problem with mandates is that without hospitals and health plans competing on the basis of price, quality and other amenities, the services are likely to become worthless.
Monday Links
- “While life expectancies around the world have generally been rising, Russia’s life expectancies have not risen for about a half-century.”
- Do higher fertility rates produce higher economic growth?
- AAF: “We know tariffs on pharmaceuticals are bad.”
- Trump think tank: tariffs can lower drug prices.
- Covid study: vaccinated 6x more likely to be hospitalized than unvaxxed.
- ChatGPT’s o3 scores 136 on the Norway Mensa IQ test.
Thursday Links
- Yglesias on Social Security’s dead beneficiaries.
- The controversy behind the “shaken baby syndrome.”
- Why doesn’t Trump brag about his greatest health care success.
- Charles Hooper: There is nothing wrong with Red Dye No. 3
- Singer: “CDC causes patients to endure needless pain and suffering.”
- 40% of Americans think Covid is still a threat.