Since I wrote about carving out Medicaid drug benefits versus carving in benefits the industry changed. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) began to consolidate to the point where the top three now control about 85% of the drug market. When three firms dominate an industry to that degree their behavior can go from benevolent (i.e. competing for business) to malevolent, self-dealing behavior.
Category: Health Insurance
Thursday Links
- “Our analysis found that out-of-pocket cost sharing is estimated to result in 1.1 million women delaying necessary breast cancer diagnostic testing and imaging in 2024 due to affordability issues.”
- Hospitals are ignoring the law on price transparency.
- Health Affairs article reviews a decade of Obamacare. No mention of the narrow networks, outrageous deductibles and out-of-pocket exposure for people who are unfortunate enough to get sick.
- More on Medicare site neutrality: What’s involved. What it would save.
- The Affordable Care Act has more than 1,000 mentions of the phrase “the secretary shall.”
Monday Links
- An argument against hiding medical debt from credit reports.
- Number of people living in poverty. Official number: 13.3% CBO estimate: 3.5%.
- AARP: Prices for drugs not selected for price negotiation have doubled.
- The University of North Carolina is currently conducting the first-ever RCT trial on the health benefits of water fluoridation.
- Biden officials “screamed” and “cursed” at Meta execs to take down vaccine posts including ones that correctly stated that the vaccines could induce side effects. “It was brutal,” Zuckerberg said.
Saturday Links
- What made the California fires worse: environmental protection for the smelt.
- Jimmy Carter’s boldest deregulation idea never happened.
- Lessons from all the past efforts to cut wasteful government spending.
- There is no relationship between climate change and wildfires.
- How long we live is 25% determined by our genes and 75% determined by lifestyle and environment. (NYT)
- Claim: breastfeeding could save 800,000 child lives a year.
- The virtual cell: “Scientists are now designing computer programs that may unlock the ability to simulate human cells, giving researchers the ability to predict the effect of a drug, mutation, virus, or any other change in the body, and in turn making physical experiments more targeted and likelier to succeed.”