- Blue states are losing billions to red states as wealth owners escape high taxes. (WSJ)
- Originally used to treat decompression sickness in scuba divers, hyperbaric oxygen therapy has recently emerged as an upscale wellness treatment. Does it work? Maybe not. (NYT)
- Makary on the FDA since he came into power: a higher rate of new medication approvals, shorter review times, and the agency’s embrace of artificial intelligence.
- Indiana Medicaid’s spending on autism swelled roughly 30-fold in six years — from $21 million in 2017 to $611 million in 2023.
- “Our results suggest that voluntary bundled payment is unlikely to generate meaningful savings for CMS.”
Category: Drug Prices & Regulations
American Heart Association at Odds with U.S. Government Dietary Recommendations
The American Heart Association is taking exception to recommendations backed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. favors fats such as beef tallow and butter rather than the seed oils that are common in products found in the grocery aisle.
Wednesday Links – 1 April 2026
- MAHA at CPAC: Kennedy went after Froot Loops and bemoaned how Americans don’t know how to cook anymore. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services chief, warned about hospice fraud in California. And Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health and the acting director (of a sort) of the CDC, explained the value of repurposing already-approved drugs for new diseases. “This sounds geeky,” he told the crowd, “But it is really, really important.”
- If you are low-skilled, poor, and overly optimistic, federal student loans are likely bad for you.
- AI doing tax returns: “They struggled, hard, miscalculating the refund or amount owed to the Internal Revenue Service by an average of more than $2,000.” (NYT)
- Some states are making up some or all of the reduction in federal subsidies for Obamacare. (NYT)
- Sharing your health records with Microsoft’s Copilot. What could go wrong? (NYT)
Tuesday Links – 31 March 2026
- Steuerle on student loans: The overall effect of replacing direct support from the state and federal governments with loans mainly led to a decline in net worth for young people, minimal gains in “human capital” (knowledge) and a significant increase in financial liabilities.
- Can abortion restrictions affect the cost of housing?
- CPAC conference. (Yawn)
- Study: weight loss drugs dull the taste buds.
- German drug prices beat TrumpRx prices more often than not.