Last week I wrote about how more Americans are self-medicating with dietary supplements. Around the same time, I ran across an article about the high number of overdose deaths in America and another article on how more Americans are cheating on drug tests. I suspect all these headlines are related to some degree. Americans aren’t just self-medicating with OTC herbal elixirs. They’re also self-medicating with various legal and illegal recreational drugs and trying to cover their tracks with their employers.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Thursday Links
- Can chronic anger produce physical health effects?
- Why is Food Stamp spending soaring?
- About 3 million people who were on Medicaid, thought they were uninsured.
- Danish study: having children does not lower the mother’s lifetime income.
- The cost of extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts could be paid for by undoing much of the Biden administration’s spending binge.
- The sources of fake science are “paper mills” — businesses or individuals that, for a price, will list a scientist as an author of a wholly or partially fabricated paper. (WSJ)
Privately Insurance Pays Much Higher Hospital Prices than Medicare Does
The reality is that hospitals find that few uninsured patients can afford to pay their prices, who are often saddled with debts they cannot pay. The debts are often written off as uncollectable. Uninsured patients are not a significant source of income for hospitals. Third party payers are.
Wednesday links – 15 May 2024
- The rise in reported maternal mortality rates in the US is largely due to a change in measurement. HT: Tyler
- Can Ozempic be a substitute for insulin for diabetics?
- Ozempic and Wegovy could slash the risk of heart attacks and strokes, even if patients don’t lose weight.
- Paragon Health’s solution for Medicare: more means testing.
- The Heritage Foundation has a similar proposal.