- Milliman: the average family of four with employer-sponsored health insurance will pay—directly and indirectly—$31,065 in health costs in 2023.
- Alzheimer’s drugs: “the ability to slow cognitive decline by a small but significant margin may not translate into a noticeable day-to-day difference for patients … at a price of $26,500 annually.”
- American Compass founder Oren Cass on living standards decline: “Whereas 40 weeks of the typical male worker’s income in 1985 could provide the middle-class essentials for a family of four, by 2022 he needed 62 weeks of income—a problem, there being only 52 weeks in a year.”
- AEI response: “While Cass’ estimates imply that cost-adjusted earnings have fallen by 36 percent, when we apply conventional inflation adjustment to median weekly earnings and look at all full-time workers, we find an increase of 33 percent before taxes and 53 percent after taxes.”
- Is the exercise equipment industry one big scam?
- Scott Sumners: the Covid lab leak theory has not been confirmed.
Category: Direct Primary Care
TeleNurse: Virtual Nursing is Growing
I have long been a fan of telemedicine. The first time I wrote about telemedicine was in 2007. The following quote is how I explained it to D Magazine in 2013:
“This is a daily occurrence in consumer markets, but is absent in healthcare markets because health plans [including Medicare and Medicaid] pay 89 percent of medical bills,” Herrick says. “You can talk to your attorney over the phone; he or she will bill you for his or her time. You can talk to your accountant over the phone. But most people don’t routinely consult with their physician over the phone because insurers are reluctant to pay for telephone consultations. Many health plans will only reimburse for physician visits if they are in-person—even though more than half of all contacts with primary care physicians could be done by email or over the phone.”
Thursday Links
- A (somewhat weak) defense of eating animals.
- The US has been falling behind other countries in life expectancy. (77 vs 82 years for all high-income countries)
- Possible reasons: we have more deaths by car crashes, gun homicides, suicides and overdoses.
- George Halvorson: Medicare Advantage is saving money for the Medicare program – despite contrary claims.
- Americans are the biggest consumers of high fructose corn syrup in the world. The reason: sugar quotas make the price of sugar in the US really high.
Is Homelessness the Result of Disease or a Lifestyle?
A recent study commissioned by the California Department of Health and Human Services found that about 172,000 people are homeless in the state, accounting for nearly one-third (30%) of the total homeless population in the nation. Moreover, the idea that homeless people flock to California was dispelled by the study. It found that roughly 90% of the homeless in California were living there prior to becoming homeless. Housing advocates worry the homeless are undercounted because it doesn’t necessarily measure those who sleep in their cars or couch surf from one friend’s couch to the next. It presumably does not include the plethora of people living in old recreational vehicles parked alongside streets or roads. Advocates say those living in RVs do not consider themselves homeless, although living in a derelict camper on public property blurs the lines between homelessness and marginal housing.