Drugs are the most efficient of all medical therapies, representing only about 8.8% of national health expenditures. By contrast, at $864.6 billion in 2021, Americans spent more than twice as much on physician care and 3.5 times as much on hospital care. Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are especially economical, most of which were once prescription drugs. OTC drugs represent between 1% and 2% of medical spending.
Category: Doctors & Hospitals
Pay is One Reason for the Shortage of Primary Care Providers (there are other reasons too)
Kaiser Health News reports that compensation is key to fixing the primary care shortage. The article goes on to say that there are many reasons for the shortage of primary care physicians, but one is inescapable: compensation. Here is a profound quote from the KHN article:
Money talks.
The Case for Medicare Advantage
Medicare Advantage enrollees experience lower rates of hospital admission and lower rates of expensive and ineffective medical procedures in the last few months of life.
Friday Links
- Competition for primary care: Amazon is charging $9 a month for an unlimited number of virtual visits.
- Federal outlays: we spend four times as much on adults as we spend on children.
- Vaping is “turning millions of young people into addicted customers.”
- Would coverage for gene therapies make employer-based health insurance unaffordable?
- Thinner women end up with richer husbands.
- Survey: there has been a dramatic decline in public trust in scientific and medical expertise from before the covid pandemic to today.