- Obamacare is making health insurance companies rich.
- Aaron Carroll reviews health care systems around the world in 10 minutes. Pretty good on the market-based systems in Switzerland and Singapore and the public/private systems in Australia and New Zealand. But when it comes to the UK and Canada, he fails to mention the extraordinary waits and health care rationing.
- Federal health bureaucracies operated by doctors and lawyers regulate about a fifth of our economy and a quarter of the federal budget – jobs that need the insights of economists.
- When the cost of prevention is included, the total loss from Covid was lower in the U.S. than in the EU.
- The CBO estimated that (Obamacare) exchange enrollees would cost federal taxpayers $6,850 each by 2021. The reality: $20,739, or over three times as much.
Category: Health Reform
WSJ: Why is it Such a Pain to see a Doctor?
I haven’t been to the doctor in several years because it’s such a hassle. All that time I’ve had health insurance that I have not used. The reason is because my old doctor retired (as did the previous one) and it’s too big a hassle to find a new one. The Wall Street Journal wrote about what a pain seeing a doctor has become.
Wednesday Links – 27 March 2024
- Contrary to the AMA and the CDC, there is no maternal mortality crisis. The authors found that the maternal mortality rate remained essentially flat between 1999 and 2002 (10.2 per 100,000 live births) and 2018 and 2021 (10.4). This would put the U.S. on par with other developed countries.
- Biden to lower the hammer on short-terms health insurance plans any day now.
- There were 17,597 dog bite liability claims filed across the country in 2022, with payouts totaling more than $1 billion.
- Average life expectancy has declined because a lot of young people are dying early (e.g., drug overdoses); among people who make it to old age, life expectancy is longer than ever.
Is Universal Dental Coverage the Next Obamacare Expansion?
Public health advocates have long considered dental care a neglected area of medicine, with dentistry in a silo of its own. Obamacare was intended to provide universal health coverage and boost access to medical care. However, it did not expand dental coverage beyond what was included in Medicaid expansion. Dental insurance must be purchased separate from health insurance for most people.