- Kaiser: Insurers deny medical claims more often than you think.
- Enthoven in Health Affairs: likes our new Medicare book. A “must read.”
- Tom Miller: why most health policy is déjà vu.
- Why is mental health declining for young women? (NYT)
- Are Biden’s regulations the reason for a 20% drop in blood tests for transplant patients? (WSJ)
- How can you do a placebo-controlled drug trial if the disease affects only a few dozen people? (WSJ)
Category: Policy & Legislation
Indiana Employer Initiative to Rein-in Hospital Prices Spreading to Other States
Former White House official Al Hubbard and employer groups began lobbying Indiana legislators to make hospital prices more transparent, and more affordable. A recent analysis by RAND found that Indiana’s hospital prices are among the top of the nation. Hoosiers are paying about three times the fees Medicare pays for the same service. The news has employers steaming.
When Sachdev, a pharmacist by training who is now 54, became CEO of the Employers’ Forum of Indiana, she was shocked that her members often didn’t know what prices they were paying for surgeries or other medical services, because hospitals and insurers kept them secret.
House W & M to Mark up Two HSA Bills
Here is a quick summary, courtesy of Dan Perrin, of how the House Ways & Means Committee will mark up two HSA Bills.
The New York Times (and the FDA) Does a Hatchet Job on Regenerative Medicine
The New York Times did a hatchet job on regenerative medicine. A visiting researcher at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and other surgeons had performed numerous surgeries using BioBurst, a processed umbilical cord fluid, to help fuse together bones in minimally invasive surgeries. The fluid was administered to reduce healing time and reduce the need for more invasive back surgery.