The United States spends about twice as much per capita on health care as other high-income countries. Yet our health outcomes are not as good, on average. It’s not that all Americans are in poor health, it’s that some Americans are in poor health and pulling down the average. As I’ve said before, health is correlated with wealth and education. Wealthier is healthier.
Category: Consumer-Driven Health Care
Wednesday Links
- Why patients don’t get enough pain medicine: doctor indifference and drug thieves.
- The annual retail value of goods Americans buy and then return approaches a trillion dollars. HT: Tyler
- Main drug killer of 35 to 44-year-old adults by far is synthetic opioids.
- Should we care about “forever chemicals” that lurk in so much of what we eat, drink and use? Studies show they are bad for rats. (NYT)
- Man believes pediatric doctor reported him to Child Protective Services in retaliation over a bad Google review.
- Richard Hanania with a commonsense review of the risks and benefits of the Covid vaccine.
Tuesday Links
- Study: even small amounts of alcohol are bad for you. HT: Tyler
- Fake news from the New York Times: How Climate Change Turned Lush Hawaii Into a Tinderbox
- Turns out the real culprit for the Maui fires was bad government policy.
- The reason for not getting another covid vaccine shot right now: We don’t know what covid variant will be threatening us in the fall. (NYT)
- Study: extreme heat causes psychosis, dementia and substance misuse. Since cold kills more people than heat, I am skeptical.
How Medicare Encourages Hospitals to Monopolize the Medical Marketplace
In 2016, the first hour of chemotherapy infusion — one of the most common services billed by oncology practices — was reimbursed at $136 for physician’s offices, while payment for hospital outpatient departments was 106% higher, at $280…. This year, this payment disparity has jumped to 158%, with physician reimbursement declining to $129 and the outpatient department rate increasing to $333….