I once read a comment from a doctor who said when he sees seniors who are on a dozen pharmaceutical drugs, half are to treat the side effects of the other half. What effect can too many medications have on seniors? You would be amazed.
Category: Cost of Healthcare
Friday Links
- Poll: Americans overwhelming support polygenic embryo selection for serious disease, but by 45% to 35% oppose selecting for IQ.
- How the father’s diet affects the health of the descendants.
- Why do the richest states get the most Medicaid money?
- Why are so many scientists around the world engaged in “gain of function” research? Because they can get money to do it.
- Why progressives should support free trade.
- Cato study: Occupational licensing disproportionately burdens minority workers.
Gain of Function, Loss of … Everything Else
It did not have to be this way. The COVID-19 pandemic cost American citizens their lives, their livelihoods, education, mental health, reputations and, ultimately, civil and religious freedoms. “The U.S. accounts for less than 5% of the world’s population, but more than 25% of total COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, and it currently ranks among the top 10 countries in COVID-19-related deaths per capita,” wrote the authors of 2023 commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association. And for all that, we have government to thank.
House Oversight Committee: PBMs Increase the Drug Costs
I wrote about pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) extensively in the past. PBMs are the middlemen who manage pharmacy benefits for employee health plans, Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies. The concept is simple: PBMs leverage buying power to extract discounts from drug makers. These discounts are (in theory) passed on to consumers and health plan clients. PBMs also create drug formularies and adjudicate drug claims.