- “The study found that cold killed 17.4 people for every person killed by heat.”
- Trump: Ignore a lot of RFK Jr.’s past statements.
- The prices paid in 2019 by Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans in hospital outpatient departments were double those paid in physician offices for biologics, chemotherapies, and other infused cancer drugs,
- Novartis announced that its new gene therapy cancer treatment (Kymriah) will cost $475,000 for the one-time infusion. There is no charge if the treatment doesn’t work.
- The case for vaccines.
- The evolution of managed care: form doctor/hospital run HMOs to AI.
Category: COVID-19 and Public Health
Mental Health Disorders are on the Rise, as are Unqualified Therapists
Covid and the lockdowns increased self-reported cases of anxiety and depression. People were sequestered in apartments, homes away from work and many of the services they’d come to enjoy. Many were having to work (or unable to work) while their kids were studying over Zoom. With increased demand for therapists, not all therapists are equal in skill. Rachel Hall from The Guardian reports on when therapy goes wrong, when you are cared for by an unqualified mental health practitioner.
Monday Links
- Study: By 2050, 8.22 million people worldwide will die per year from antibiotic-resistant infections – more than the number currently killed by cancer.
- Evidence on the 5 second rule.
- Cochrane on the cost of excessive regulation.
- Who gets the best deal from Social Security? Middle income couples with one worker and a stay-at-home spouse.
Friday Links
- How Medicare Advantage works: “The plans look for unhealthy people who likely have been poorly served by the fee-for-service system. These people both have big payment multipliers attached to them and offer lots of opportunity for improving care and lowering costs.”
- How to reform the NIH.
- Covid lockdowns had almost no affect on the top students, but was devastating for those at the bottom.
- Cato’s suggestions for DOGE.
- The money donated to restore Notre Dame could instead have saved 47,500 lives from death by malaria – and maybe twice that number.