- In his State of the Union address, Biden spent more time on health care than on any other issue.
- Biden on Social Security and Medicare: proposed sunsetting all federal programs (1975); proposed freezing all federal programs (1984); proposed tying the freeze to an increase in the debt limit (1984).
- Are saunas actually good for you? (NYT)
- An asteroid named Psyche has metals supposedly worth $10 quintillion.
- Do people wear masks because they think they look ugly?
Category: Health Economics & Costs
State of the Union Missed the Mark on Health Care
President Joe Biden gave his State of the Union address on Tuesday and health care was a prominent theme. Among others, he called for a fix to unaffordable health costs. Kaiser Health News reported:
Mental Health Startup Goes Bust, gets an Economics Lesson in the Process
A new high-tech mental health startup called Mindstrong discovered an important lesson in economics. That lesson was that Americans value mental health services until they must pay for them. Writing in Stat News, psychiatrist Roy Perlis had this to say:
Socialized Medicine in Britain
Rationing by waiting:
The state-funded service is falling apart. People who suffer heart attacks or strokes wait more than 1½ hours on average for an ambulance. Hospitals are so full they are turning patients away. A record 7.1 million people in England—more than one in 10 people—are stuck on waiting lists for nonemergency hospital treatment like hip replacements.
One in five British people were waiting for a medical appointment or treatment by the NHS in December, according to the U.K. Office for National Statistics (ONS)