FDA Commissioner Marty Makary recently stated that when it comes to drugs that currently require a prescription, “everything should be over the counter” unless they are unsafe or need monitoring. This post explains why that’s good.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Why Health Care Price Transparency Regulations Have Not Lowered Prices
Patients need the knowledge and the tools to easily compare prices. There are numerous examples of how to turn patients into shoppers. Stakeholders just have not been forced to take the necessary steps.
Thursday Links – 19 February 2026
- Why does health care spending keep rising? It’s higher utilization, not higher prices.
- US education failure: fifteen countries have higher average science scores than the United States.
- Why Congress can’t fix Obamcare: abortion.
- “The Food and Drug Administration is full of rules that keep safer drugs prescription-only while allowing more dangerous ones to be sold over the counter.”
- Does coffee lower your risk of dementia?
Facts About Long Term Care
About 29 percent of people 65 and over in the United States report at least some limitation with their ability to conduct daily activities.
The majority of elderly people receiving long-term care receive unpaid, informal care at home.
In 2018, there were an estimated 1.9 million care workers providing formal help to those 65 and over.
Immigrants make up a nearly 40 percent of home health aides, 28 percent of personal care aides, and 21 percent of nurse assistants.
A much larger group of people provide informal, largely unpaid, care to the elderly. An estimated 10.6 million people, usually family members who have no training in caring for the elderly, provide long-term support to people 65 and over.
Medicaid is the largest public payer of long-term care for the elderly.
Only 15 percent of the persons 65 and over have purchased such insurance.
OECD estimates suggest that out-of-pocket costs of long-term care after public support are as much as 60 percent of median income for those with moderate needs and 80 percent for those with severe needs.
Source: Econofact