- The percentage of working-age adults who get their health coverage from a job has declined from 67% in 1998 to about 60%.
- Orphan drugs: 167 drugs are exempt under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
- A brand new, peer-reviewed study found that data centers actually caused average U.S. retail electricity rates to “fall modestly” between 2015 and 2024, because the centers’ high, steady power demand helped spread a grid’s fixed costs over more usage.
- Tim Fist and Saif Khan: there’s a substantial chance that AI will kill most people on Earth within the next decade or two, by designing superviruses. AI is already capable of designing viruses not found in nature, so this isn’t a sci-fi scenario.
Category: Drug Prices & Regulations
AMA’s Ownership of Medical Billing Codes Boosts Prices and Overhead Costs
Writing in Health Affairs, Ezekiel Emanuel and Kevin Schulman explain that one-quarter (25%) of health care spending is in on administration. The cost of health care administration is $1.5 trillion each year. Americans could save $1,200 on their health insurance premiums if administration were merely reduced by one-quarter Emanuel and Schulman claim. More from Health…
Friday Links – 7 August 2026
- From 2005 to 2023 real health care spending per capita grew by 1.8% per year for the highest income quintile, while there was no change in spending for the lowest income quintile.
- Is New Zealand’s Social Security system better than Australia’s and the US system?
- LA being overrun by Typhus rats.
- The federal government “pays states roughly $9 in federal funds for every $1 they spend on able-bodied, working-age Medicaid expansion adults, compared to an average of $1.33 for every $1 spent on traditional enrollees.”
- Should people be able to bet on clinical drug trials?