- Doctors are charging for email exchanges: $39 per consult.
- What Republicans should have shown as a response to the SOTU speech. HT: Tyler
- “Our legal system is really built for married couples.”
- Palm oil is in bread, instant noodles, Girl Scout cookies, lipstick, Nutella and ice cream, and almost everything else. So, what’s wrong with that? (NYT)
Category: Consumer-Driven Health Care
Who Wants to Live Forever? (Money Probably Helps)
Weight loss drugs are all the rage these days. They were originally developed for severe diabetes that does not respond to older therapies. Then it was discovered that they also cause effortless weight loss as a beneficial byproduct. The data is not yet conclusive but by aiding in weight loss they may also increase longevity by reducing weight-related heart disease. They are pricy. The holy grail for drug makers and obese people alike is to get enough evidence of health benefits to force health insurers to pay for them.
Saturday Links
- The world is making better progress at reducing poverty than previously thought.
- David Henderson: “If new drugs can make it in America, they are developed. If they can’t, they aren’t.”
- Study: early risers are happier and healthier.
- Over half of recent college graduates are underemployed.
- Are you better Off? Most Americans are consuming more today (in real terms ) than they consumed in 2019 – before the pandemic.
More Physicians Messaging Patients by Email (and Billing for it)
Probably around 50 years after telephones made their arrived in doctors’ offices physicians stopped using them to communicate with patients. The reason was because health insurance enrollment was growing and third-party payers were not willing to reimburse for phone consultations, while few doctors wanted to work for free. That has been changing over the past few years (the former, not the latter).