- British Medicaid Journal: “The current body of scientific data does not support masking children for protection against COVID-19.”
- How the newspapers are getting life expectancy projections wrong.
- Cigna Removes Prior Authorization for 25% of Medical Services.
- Merrill Matthews explains why seniors are over-paying for drugs.
- Tiny robots made from human cells heal damaged tissue. HT: Tyler
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Monday Links
- James Pethokoukis: the latest numbers confirm that inequality has been exaggerated.
- Study: illegal immigration causes voters to prefer smaller government; and less money for education (with social benefits ) and more law-and-order spending (with private benefits).
- House Republican leader Mike Johnson’s views on how to reform health care.
- Medicare ACOs did not improve mental health outcomes.
- Universal health care in Canada: the health service refuses treatment for cancer and refuses to reimburse the patient for the cost of treatment in the U.S.
- Criticisms of pot legalization do not hold up.
Medicare Advantage is Popular with Seniors, but Not Doctors and Hospitals
Hardly a week goes by but what I read something critical of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. MA plans have become somewhat politicized with Democrats preferring government-run (traditional) Medicare, while Republicans like the idea of competition among private plans. Here is the thing that critics forget: MA plans are popular with seniors. They are growing and now cover more than half of all people enrolled in Medicare, about 31 million seniors and disabled individuals.
Saturday Links
- What the left and right are coming to agree on: Obamacare is encouraging consolidation and that is bad for patients.
- New study: If you count all welfare spending as income in kind to poor families, the real poverty rate is only 1.6%.
- FDA: A treatment for cancer may cause cancer.
- Avalere study: For patients in traditional Medicare use of skilled nursing homes was 12% higher and hospital inpatient care was 37% higher than for Medicare Advantage patients.
If all Medicare beneficiaries were in Medicare Advantage, the hospital trust fund would remain solvent until 2048.