- Man harassed by collection agencies over an unpaid $2.57 hospital bill.
- Socialized medicine in Oregon: Measure 111 amends the state constitution to establish “the obligation of the state to ensure that every resident of Oregon has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right.” (WSJ)
- How colleges deceive students about the real cost of their enrollment.
- Paul Ryan’s plan to save America’s finances. Social Security reform is bold. Health care reforms are Meh.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Does Grandma Need a roommate? (Alternatives to Long Term Care)
Nearly 70% of seniors will need long-term care at some point in their lives. There are nearly 66,000 long-term care (LTC) facilities in the United States, with a total of about 1 million licensed beds. That will not be nearly enough as the Baby Boomer generation approaches the period in their lives of declining health. The average LTC resident is a woman, accounting for two-thirds of residents. Women stay an average of 3.7 years, compared to men who stay 2.2 years, on average. The reason women outnumber men two-to-one and spend more time in nursing homes is due to women outliving their husbands.
Tuesday Links
- Snakebites are worse than we thought: They kill between 81,000 and 138,000 people each year, and leave another 400,000 with permanent disabilities.
- Contra PhARMA: Profit growth at the largest pharmaceutical companies—driven by price hikes on older, branded, monopoly drugs—rarely leads to the development of innovative new medicines, according to a FREOPP study.
- Heritage study: The federal government spent $279 billion of taxpayers’ money on improper payments in 2021 alone. That is more than $2,000 per U.S. household.
- Does coffee drinking increase your life expectancy? Or, do we never seem to tire of bad studies?
Cato Health
- Cops practicing medicine: Government and law enforcement increasingly surveil and influence the way doctors treat pain, psychoactive substance use, and substance use disorder.
- Its time to free the birth control pill: Allow OTC sales.
- Free the nurses: They can provide excellent primary care services.