On Tuesday, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration met to discuss the Covid-19 vaccine booster. The advisory committee was tasked to decide whether to recommend updating the Covid vaccine to contain an Omicron component for booster vaccines in the United States. Public health officials are concerned that the arrival of colder weather than keeps people indoors along with emerging variants could result in a sharp rise in Covid cases.
Category: Health Reform
Book: Regulations Hinder Legal Cannabis Suppliers (Just Like Other Industries)
A new book coauthored by two economists explains the economics of legalized marijuana are not very lucrative. The regulations for selling legal weed are so onerous that illegal marijuana sells for half the price of the highly regulated legal product when competing for the same customers. In fact, the regulatory maze is such that in most states where cannabis is legal aspiring distributors hire consultants to assist with the application process. Indeed, the people in the cannabis industry making the most (legal) money are the consultants and lobbyists.
Monday Links
- Colorado gets permission to include a public option in its (Obamacare) exchange. But as Ed Haislmaier and I showed, this won’t matter as long as the playing field is level.
- Buprenorphine is highly effective at preventing overdoses and treating opioid use disorder; but enrollees in Medicaid managed care rarely see a doctor who prescribes it. Even so, that’s better than regular Medicaid.
- Another article on medical debt, missing Devon Herrick’s point that Obamacare is the reason for its rise.
- Responding to the Roe decision, Matt Holt completely loses it. Lesson for us all: don’t write blog posts when you are having a temper tantrum.
- If housing is a health care issue, should Medicaid pay the rent?
Have a Chronic Disease? There’s a Smartphone App for That
An article in the San Francisco Chronical that was republished in Kaiser Heath News looked at tech firms that monitor chronic conditions remotely. The firms offer both digital or human health coaches to help patients better manage their care. There are approximately 50 different firms designed to help patients adhere to treatment programs or deal with chronic conditions.