An article by Kaiser Health News explained that Medicare Part D drug plans can change individual drug prices and/or cost sharing soon after open enrollment closes. For instance, a recent analysis by AARP found that about a month after Medicare drug plans went into effect, prices had risen by 8% on 75 of the most frequently used drugs. Seniors who select a plan specifically for its price on a given drug are likely disappointed when prices rise, or copays increase. Yet, once in a plan seniors cannot switch to another plan until the next open enrollment period at the end of the year.
Category: Direct Primary Care
Is Your Doctor and Health Plan Woke Enough?
Health disparities have bewildered public health advocates for decades. It has long been known that health status and health outcomes often vary by education, ethnicity, race, gender and numerous other factors. Sidenote: when you control for education, the other variables lose much of their significance.
Wokeness Invades the Doctor’s Office
This is Dr. Stanley Goldfarb in the Wall Street Journal:
The National Library of Medicine database shows more than 2,700 recent papers on “racism and medicine,” which generally purport to show physician bias leading to racial disparities in health outcomes. Yet the most commonly cited studies are shoddily designed, ignore such critical factors as pre-existing conditions, or reach predetermined and sensationalized conclusions that aren’t supported by reported results. These papers in turn are used to source even more shoddy research.
Obamacare at Age 12
Would anyone buy an Obamacare plan without a huge subsidy? For people not getting a subsidy, if you combine the average premium and the average deductible last year, they had to pay $25,000 before getting any benefits from the plan. Narrow provider networks exclude the best doctors and the best hospitals. The relationship between buyer…