- Covid infection creates immunity at least equal to two doses of mRNA vaccine, according to a meta-analysis of 65 studies from 19 countries.
- Why did it take two decades for a generic competitor for the nation’s leading (and costly) arthritis drug to become avaible to consumers?
- Benefit of placebos: “taking a sugar pill can be beneficial even when you know it’s a sugar pill.” (WSJ)
- Why can’t we have one-stop-shopping for safety net benefits for the poor, instead of multiple siloed benefits?
- Study: 76% of homeless people in high-income countries suffer from a mental disorder, with substance use disorders and schizophrenia being the most common. HT: Arnold Kling
- In Utah, it is legal to forcibly sterilize a person with a disability.
Category: COVID-19 and Public Health
Monday Links
- George Halvorson defends Obamacare (but mainly a reformed Medicare Advantage program).
- Does the obese character in The Whale really deserve our sympathy?
- Medicare Advantage enrollment is now 31.2 million – roughly half of the Medicare population.
- DOL: The low-end estimate for improper (Covid) unemployment insurance payments – mostly fraud – is $191 billion.
- Estimates attribute 15 – 30 percent of total national health spending to administration, with at least half ($300 – $600 billion a year) demonstrated to be ineffective or wasteful.
More Americans Delay Care Due to Cost
It’s no mystery that Americans are paying a bigger share of their medical bills out-of-pocket these days. Health plan deductibles have about doubled in the past two decades. My 2023 health plan deductible is nearly $9,000. Some family plans have combined deductibles of $15,000. High deductibles are causing more Americans to delay medical care according to The New York Times.
Friday Links
- CBO: Social Security and Medicare to become insolvent in the next 10 years.
- Disappointing discovery: ChatGPT is politically biased.
- FDA Commissioner Robert Califf: Low Generic Prices Can Lead to Drug Shortages. (InsideHealthPolicy – gated)
- Florida Surgeon General issues an alert on adverse events connected to Covid vaccines.
- Reasons to have more sex: it reduces pain, relieves stress, improves sleep, lowers blood pressure and strengthens heart health. (NYT)