Health care has become politicized, with one side believing in wildly different things than the other. Health secretary RFK Jr. is a vaccine skeptic, for example. He is reportedly testing President Trump’s patience with his antiestablishment agenda. On the far left of the voter distribution, many people passionately believe medical care should be free at the point of service, paid for with progressive taxation. Purportedly, when having to reach for one’s wallet after receiving medical care is bad for your health.
Category: Affordable Care Act
Friday Links
- The No Surprises Act caused an 18% decline in out-of-pocket spending among adults with direct purchase private health insurance.
- Which cities have the most crime? (Hint: they are mainly blue)
- Why (Obamacare’s) mandated free screenings can make heath care worse for patients.
- Arguments for and against reconciliation 2.0
- Some good news:
Take teen pregnancies. Since 1990, they have fallen 78% to an all-time low. Or drunk driving. Fatalities have dropped by over 55% since the 1980s and an astonishing 77% among those under age 21. Then there’s smoking. At the time of the 1964 Surgeon General’s report linking cigarettes with cancer, 43% of adult Americans smoked. That number is now down to 12%.
Wednesday Links
- Why taxing the wealthy to support more consumption by everyone else will make us all worse off.
- Trump ends collective bargaining for most federal workers.
- No Surprise (Bills) Act: In 2024, providers won 85 percent of the disputes. Total 3-year cost: $5 billion.
- Are AI tools making doctors worse at their jobs?
Bankruptcies Rising in the Health Care Sector
The United States spends nearly $5 trillion on medical care and health-related activities each year. Health expenditure consumes nearly 20% of gross domestic product (GDP). Yet, economists and business analysts claim the health care industry is hemorrhaging money, with bankruptcies on the rise year after year.