I often write about the time my wife almost got a CT scan at a hospital outpatient clinic not realizing she had arbitrarily picked the second most expensive service location. Inside the hospital is the most expensive location. The hospital business office told her they would have to get prior authorization from her health plan before they could schedule the scan. That also gave the hospital a reason to calculate her cost-sharing and inform my wife that she was expected to pay $2,700 prior to the service. That was not even the price, just her share of the bill after her deductible was met.
Category: Health Insurance
Tuesday Links
- Product hopping: “Drug companies use either temporary discounts and sales pitches or dramatic changes like pulling a drug off the market to get doctors to start prescribing a new, modified version of a familiar, about-to-lose-its-patent drug. These tactics delay the entry of generics into the market and preserve monopoly prices for the company.”
- Almost everything you want to know about the relationship between money and happiness.
- What scientists got wrong about the Covid vaccine.
- Did McKinsey commit treason?
- Gaza campus protests: mostly a phenomenon at elite, private schools. HT: Tyler
- Are doctors still sterilizing sickle cell patients?
Update on VA Care
“Initially, people were always required to get their care inside of the VA. The VA started having really long wait times, or wasn’t providing adequate service, or a number of reasons why people decided they wanted to get outside of the VA.
Why is there a Federal Student Loan Crisis?
The increase in aggregate student debt and the struggles of today’s student loan borrowers can be traced to changes in federal policies intended to broaden access to federal aid and educational opportunities, and which increased enrollment and borrowing in higher-risk circumstances.
Source: NBER study via Tyler Cowen.