- Over half the new jobs in January’s report are in government or health care.
- Smoking is worse than you’ve been told. Long lasting effects after you quit.
- What happens when doctors become hospital employees? Medicare patients’ use of non-hospital sources for chemotherapy declined by 14% from 2015 to 2021, and chemotherapy performed in hospitals increased by 21%. More than half of Medicare chemotherapy patients now receive their treatments in hospitals, where the prices are higher.
- How health insurance eats into wages. Premiums for a family made up about 8% of employees’ compensation in 1988. If they stayed at that level for the next 32 years, a typical family would have earned an additional $8,774 in 2019. The cumulative value of lost earnings tops $125,000.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Thursday Links
- About one third of older adults reported being socially isolated in 2023, while nearly 40% reported a lack of companionship.
- Pfizer spent $14 million on its “Here’s to Science” commercial during the Super Bowl. Was it worth it?
- The Biden administration pressured Amazon to delist or downgrade books that disagreed with the White House.
- Heartland/Rasmussen survey in December revealed that roughly one in five mail-in voters admitted to potentially fraudulent actions in the presidential election.
- Kaiser to Oakland workers: Because of crime threat, stay inside for work and lunch.
Dating Apps Killed Marriage (The War on Poverty Wounded it First)
One legend holds that Saint Valentine was a priest who continued to perform marriages in secret after Roman emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, believing that single men were better soldiers. Valentine was put to death for his disobedience but became the patron saint for lovers. Nearly two millennia after Valentine tried to perpetuate marriage, it is again on the decline.
Wednesday Links
- Why an advance directive is not as easy as you might think it is.
- Think AI will never replace you? Think again.
- The case for the Trump rule, as opposed to the Biden rule, on Association Health Plans.
- Since the Senate foreign aid bill (Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan) is not paid for, it will add $1,200 per household to our federal debt.