According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) out-of-pocket costs associated with high-deductible health plans lead to skimping on and delaying needed care. In another article published on the same day KFF essentially makes the same argument: high-deductible plans can lead to high out-of-pocket medical bills. The latter was an attempt to discredit President Trump’s most recent proposal to fund health accounts directly rather than extend the enhanced subsidies. Yet, the above arguments ignore what made high-deductible plans so common: Obamacare.
Category: Cost of Healthcare
Wednesday Links
- JAMA: “Evidence is insufficient for the use of cannabis or cannabinoids for most medical conditions.”
- No, Mississippi’s educational gains are not a hoax. (Also good on why the left dismisses education reform.)
- Studying social sciences and humanities makes students more left-leaning, whereas studying economics and business makes them more right-leaning. (The difference is large.)
- For profit cities, (Financial Times)
- Obamacare sticker shock: next year’s out-of-pocket for an individual will be $10,600. (NYT)
Are Republicans turning Uncle Sam into Uncle Sugar?
Republicans strongly opposed the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which doled out hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to individuals, while increasing certain federal subsidies. Republicans claimed the American Rescue Plan was unnecessary, inflationary and fiscally irresponsible. But that was soooo four years ago.
Now some Republicans want to hand out even more taxpayer dollars, turning Uncle Sam into Uncle Sugar. Let’s compare some of the Democrats’ handouts to what Republicans have already passed and are proposing.
Tuesday Links
- Raw milk is not better for you. The safety benefits of pasteurization far outweigh the drawbacks.
- One in six infection is resistant to the current roster of antibiotics.
- Why are babies eating ultra processed baby food? (WSJ)
- Why are there so many medical tests that the doctor didn’t order?
- “Medical debt was consistently associated with worse health and cancer outcomes.”
- Can personality characteristics predict lifetime success and failure? HT: Arnold Kling