- The Obamacare-created Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) was expected to save $2.8 billion in its first decade. In fact, it increased spending by $5.4 billion.
- Health risks of marijuana.
- Walmart offers telehealth for pets. Amazon may be next.
- Are we paying people not to work?
- One in 10 cancer patients have seen their treatment affected by drug shortages. Of those, 68% had trouble finding substitute medications and 59% reported treatment delay.
Category: Drug Prices & Regulations
Monday Links
- Insurers have made out like bandits under Obamacare.
- Paragon study: The cost to the taxpayers of Obamacare is $36,798 per additional private insurance enrollee.
- The leader of Hamas is headquartered in Qatar – the same country that hosted the World Cup.
- Tyler Cowen (channeling the Economist) on why Argentina may elect a libertarian president.
- Who is better at keeping food safe? Public health agencies? Or the restaurants themselves?
- Reducing hospital costs without hurting patients.
NYT: Are Supervised Drug-Use Facilities the Answer to Drug Overdoses?
Let’s assume there is a risky product, of which the government wants to discourage consumption. The good is dangerous, not infrequently killing people accidentally. The substance is of dubious quality, highly regulated yet poorly made and inconsistent. The products within this category are mislabeled, misbranded and often adulterated with harmful chemicals and other additives. Yet, these goods are popular among some people, becoming habit forming both psychological and physiological. The goods are blamed for social ills, including crime, homelessness, shiftlessness, poor health and even death. How should government discourage consumption of products like this? I’m talking about illegal drugs of course.
Friday Links
- Drug and device shortages are affecting patient care.
- Schwab: how a Roth IRA can reduce the Part B and Part D premiums for seniors.
- EBRI study: a 65-year-old couple needs as much as $383,000 in savings to have a 90% chance of covering their health care expenses for the rest of their lives.
- Yglesias interviews Melissa Kearney on two-parent privilege. Recommended. But she underestimates the penalties the welfare state imposes on marriage. See The Marriage Tax.
- Milton Friedman was right: there would be no lasting conflict in the Middle East if they had a laissez-faire economic regime.
- Obamacare gives insurers perverse incentive to buy doctors’ clinics, pharmacies, etc. And, that’s what they are doing.