- DOJ: Postal service can deliver abortion pills.
- NIH-funded food pyramid says lucky charms are better than steak; chocolate covered almonds are better than cheddar cheese.
- Pro-choice argument: the FDA’s step forward on abortion medications is not nearly good enough.
- The European Union bans 1,300 ingredients from use in cosmetics. The US bans 11. (NYT)
Category: Friday Links
Friday Links
- The federal government approved about $5 trillion in total pandemic relief money; the amount lost to fraud could reach the $250 billion to $560 billion range.
- At-home, rapid antigen tests that let you test for COVID, Influenza, and RSV all at once are widely available in Europe. But you can’t have one because they have not been approved by the FDA.
- Small rural hospitals got pummeled by the pandemic in 2022.
- Not only did the members of Congress not read the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill, more than half didn’t even show up to vote. They voted by proxy.
- Pharma study: pharmacy benefit managers and health insurers are ripping off patients. Why didn’t they release this before the election?
Friday Links
- Study: Up to 31.6 percent of Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments (intended to support hospitals that serve low-income patients) have gone to hospitals that do not care for very many low-income patients.
- “Tripledemic” news stories are just hype.
- California medical school admits it experimented on prisoners in the 1960s and 1970s.
- Hospital donors get VIP treatment and jump the queue when they need medical care. (NYT) Is anyone surprised by this? Is there anything wrong with it?
Ask Your Doctor Four Questions to Avoid Unnecessary Care
I went to a urologist a couple years ago. He examined me and told me he was 85% sure what I had was not serious and would resolve on its own. However, if I wanted to be 100% sure, there was an in-office test ($450) and an MRI ($350) that he could order for me. I got the feeling he was probably really 95% sure I was fine. The urologist likely offered additional tests out of defensive medicine and the fact that some patients desire more care than others. I was cash pay so I opted out of it.