- Woke ideology is subverting biology.
- About 40 percent of those surveyed said they had delayed or gone without care in the last year because of the expense.
- Cassidy: Sanders is prioritizing partisan labor legislation (that will never pass the Senate) over bipartisan health legislation (that could pass. (InsideHealthPolicy – gated)
- Medicare reform failures: “While MACRA’s goal of moving Medicare beyond fee-for-service and towards paying for value was reasonable and broadly popular, its … alternative payment models have not fostered quality improvement … and … have also failed to deliver savings.”
- Effect of Lockdowns plus teacher unions: 13-year-olds record lowest test scores in decades.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
TeleNurse: Virtual Nursing is Growing
I have long been a fan of telemedicine. The first time I wrote about telemedicine was in 2007. The following quote is how I explained it to D Magazine in 2013:
“This is a daily occurrence in consumer markets, but is absent in healthcare markets because health plans [including Medicare and Medicaid] pay 89 percent of medical bills,” Herrick says. “You can talk to your attorney over the phone; he or she will bill you for his or her time. You can talk to your accountant over the phone. But most people don’t routinely consult with their physician over the phone because insurers are reluctant to pay for telephone consultations. Many health plans will only reimburse for physician visits if they are in-person—even though more than half of all contacts with primary care physicians could be done by email or over the phone.”
Thursday Links
- A (somewhat weak) defense of eating animals.
- The US has been falling behind other countries in life expectancy. (77 vs 82 years for all high-income countries)
- Possible reasons: we have more deaths by car crashes, gun homicides, suicides and overdoses.
- George Halvorson: Medicare Advantage is saving money for the Medicare program – despite contrary claims.
- Americans are the biggest consumers of high fructose corn syrup in the world. The reason: sugar quotas make the price of sugar in the US really high.
Wednesday Links
- Aaron Carroll: there is no scientific reason to avoid artificial sweeteners. But there are good reasons for many people to reduce your intake of sugar.
- House votes today on personal and portable health insurance (funded by an employer) – essentially codifying a Trump executive order.
- The House also will vote to codify a Trump executive order on Association Health Plans that has been stymied by the courts.
- Incentives matter: Lionel Messi could play soccer anywhere, but the lack of a state income tax helped draw him to Florida.
- Why veterans need private doctor alternatives to the VA.