- To do want he wants to do, RFK Jr will be head of the wrong agency.
- More than 50% of the AMA’s revenue in 2023, or $266 million, came from a budget category that includes medical billing codes. (Statnews)
- From 1997 to 2011, 85% of the increase in real per-capita Medicare spending was on newly created procedure codes.
- Final House Select Committee report: Covid likely came for the Wuhan lab.
- More than one-third of 100 hospitals reviewed did not properly post machine-readable pricing data, as required by law.
Category: Drug Prices & Regulations
Bruce Ames, RIP
Bruce Ames was a scientist best known to the world as the inventor of the “Ames Test,” a relatively inexpensive and quick way of determining whether a chemical can cause cancer in mice and rats. His test was used (and still is used to some degree) to take chemicals off the market and inform various product regulations.
Wednesday Links
- A theory of why there are food deserts. (speculative)
- Tyler Cowen’s skepticism about assisted dying in the UK.
- Why Bernie Sanders is wrong: 60% of Americans do not live “paycheck-to-paycheck.”
- Every ethnic group believes that America is “the greatest country on earth,” including 75% of Hispanic and 58% of blacks. The only group that doesn’t believe that are white liberal elites (31%).
- The downside of weight loss drugs: to keep your weight off, you have to stay on the drugs forever.
Tuesday Links
- Up to one in five patients may not respond well to obesity drugs.
- Thanksgiving tip: People eat less when the food is spicier.
- A wristband that measures exposure to toxic chemicals. (NYT)
- Why humans cry. (NYT)
- Probability of returning to traditional Medicare is slightly higher for Medicare Advantage enrollees in states where Medigap insurance is guaranteed issue.
- Why you should worry about bird flu.