- The OBBBA improves child benefits over current law, but long-term benefits continue to decline as a percent of GDP.
- The Alpha School project reduces the time that kids have to spend in traditional K-12 schools by more than 50 percent.
- New Zealand approves use of ‘magic mushrooms’ to treat depression but only one psychiatrist is allowed to prescribe it.
- Social Security Trustees: With no change, in 8 years the law will require a 23 percent benefit cut. Balancing Social Security’s long-term books requires a 30 percent permanent benefit cut starting now.
- The word “fascist” is used so frequently these days, it is helpful to know what it means.
- There is no evidence that trans medical procedures reduce adolescent suicide rates.
Category: Health Insurance
Saturday Links
- 6.4 million people are improperly enrolled in an exchange plan for which they are ineligible.
- More than 1,900 non-profit hospitals – 80% of non-profit hospitals — gave less back to their communities than they had received in tax breaks. In total, the amount ($25.7 billion) would have been sufficient to pay off the medical debt of everyone in California, Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania combined.
- Perils of outdoor cooking: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year, 48 million people (I in 6 Americans) get sick from a foodborne illness.
- Why is thimerosal controversial?
- “Countries like the U.S., France, New Zealand, and Sweden have now switched to [fertility] rates well below replacement, while countries like China, Taiwan, and South Korea are at levels that imply catastrophic population collapses over the next century.”
The Cost of Drugs in Addition to the Price of Drugs
This article estimates that payers, manufacturers, physicians, and patients together incur approximately $93.3 billion in costs annually on implementing, contesting, and navigating utilization management. Payers spend approximately $6.0 billion annually administering drug utilization management, and manufacturers spend approximately $24.8 billion supporting patient access in response. Physicians devote approximately $26.7 billion in time spent navigating utilization management, whereas patients spend approximately $35.8 billion annually in drug cost sharing, even after taking advantage of manufacturer and philanthropic sources of financial support.
Source: Health Affairs
KFF: Federal Proposals Threaten Key Source of State Medicaid Funding
The Kaiser Family Foundation had this to say:
Republican efforts to restrict taxes on hospitals, health plans, and other providers that states use to help fund their Medicaid programs could strip them of tens of billions of dollars. The move could shrink access to health care for some of the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable people, warn analysts, patient advocates, and Democratic political leaders.