- AMA encourages doctors to learn health economics. They even have their own online course. Haven’t checked it out, but I suspect it is more sociology than economics.
- Amazon wants to be your doctor.
- Déjà vu: Monkeypox testing looks like the Covid testing fiasco all over again.
- “probably half of all Covid infections have happened this calendar year — and it’s only July.”
- Insulin bill in the Senate looks like a done deal.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Medicare Unlikely to Negotiate Lower Drug Prices than PBMs
Senate Democrats are looking to lower Medicare drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate the prices it pays for a limited number of drugs. The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 expressly forbid the government from interfering with negotiations between private payers and drug makers. However, allowing Medicare to negotiate directly with drug makers has long been a goal of Democrats and the idea is popular with voters.
Thursday Links
- Fauci isn’t retiring after all.
- CBO: taxpayers would save billions of dollars and the number of people with health insurance would remain the same if the (Obamacare) extended subsidies are allowed to expire in December.
- The other side of waste: More spending leads to better health outcomes.
- Cato: Day Light Savings Time transition has been linked to increased risks of car accidents, heart attacks, and depressive symptoms in studies.
The Downside of Telemedicine: Tele-Fraud
The Justice Department announced criminal charges in a $1.2 billion telemedicine fraud scheme committed by numerous individuals across the United States. In some cases the owners of clinical labs are accused of paying kickbacks to marketers, who in turn paid bribes to telemedicine companies in return for physician orders.