There are a lot of bogus claims in health care. Even many drugs that are FDA approved seem to oversell their effectiveness and under-report their side effects. There are limits to the health claims product manufacturers are allowed to make, however. Drug makers and dietary supplement manufacturers are required to back up health claims or face the wrath of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Category: COVID-19 and Public Health
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.
Friday Links – 29 August 2025
- Moore v, Krugman
- Study: the first vaccine dose reduced the risk of COVID-19 death by 52.6% in those aged 80 years, supporting existing evidence of a strong protective effect in older adults.
- “The $50 billion rural hospital rescue fund is a fraud.”
- Is AI politically biased?
- Katrina recovery spending:
The federal government spent more than was spent (adjusted for inflation) on the post-World War II Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe or for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks.
- The results:
Today, New Orleans is smaller, poorer and more unequal than before the storm. It hasn’t rebuilt a durable middle class, and lacks basic services and a major economic engine outside of its storied tourism industry.
Thursday Links
- Vaccine wars.
- Argument: AI’s impact on health has been oversold.
- Will Montana’s “right to try” law amount to the “wild west for experimental medical therapies”?
- Thinking the unthinkable: what if the government can’t pay its debts?
- How can a country with $37 trillion in debt have a “sovereign wealth fund?
- “All the political writers I follow, left or right, are pessimistic. All the scientific and startup writers I follow are optimistic.”
- The No Surprise Act has protected Americans from more than 25 million surprise medical bills.