- 65 bullet points on leftwing antisemitism. There is a reason why socialism and antisemitism were closely aligned in the 20th century: both are variations of collectivism.
- Thinking about dying.
- What does hospital price transparency have to do with community health centers? The former is an excuse for funding the latter.
- Illness can be financially devastating – in the US, but also in Canada and Britain. The reason: It’s not because of medical bills. It’s because of a lack of income from work.
Category: Cost of Healthcare
That Cheap Drug From Mexico (or Bought Online) May Not Be What You Think
Years ago I crossed into Mexico from Weslaco, Texas. You could park on the U.S. side and walk across the bridge into Mexico. If you pull up Weslaco on Google Maps it lists eight different pharmacies or clinics within several blocks of the international border crossing. Google Maps does not always list every business. There are probably more than eight. As I recall there were rows of pharmacies. The storefronts were often narrow but deep. On one side of the pharmacy was cheap drugs while on the other side was cheap liquor.
Monday Links
- During the pandemic, government payments for social benefits rose by $1.5 trillion, or 47%, between 2019 and 2021. At the same time, the official poverty rate rose to 11.6% from 10.5%.
- Using a consistent measure of poverty, AEI researchers find that only 1.6% of the population lives in poverty, well below the official poverty rate of 10.5%.
- The case for a value added tax.
- Likely scenarios if the government seizes drug company patents: They’re all bad.
- New technology can identify genetic defects before Invitro Fertilization begins.
- “Canadian woman is diagnosed with cancer, told she has 2 years to live at most, that she is not a candidate for surgery but would she like medical help committing suicide? She declines, comes to the United States, spends a lot of money, and is treated within weeks.”
Saturday Links
- More details on Biden’s plan to seize drug company patents.
- Update: 2 million, rather than previously reported 1 million, Social Security retirees got clawback letters last year.
- First-ever gene editing therapies approved to cure sickle cell disease.
- Canada’s system of socialized medicine now has the longest wait times to receive medical treatment ever recorded.
- Scholarly studies: consumer directed health plans reduce health care spending by approximately 5–15 percent relative to similar plans with lower deductibles and without spending accounts.