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The Goodman Institute Health Blog

Category: Medicare

Saturday Links

Posted on June 14, 2025June 13, 2025 by John C. Goodman
  • Plusses and minuses of an aspirin a day.
  • Benefits of a Brazil nut a day.
  • Cutting funds for vaccine research (and spending them in better ways) may make sense.
  • American Action Forum on the MAHA report.
  • New York spends twice as much per person as Florida.
  • Out-of-pocket costs for a typical enrollee are 18–24 percent lower in Medicare Advantage than in traditional fee-for-service Medicare.
  • RFK, Jr. seems to have broken all his promises to Sen Cassidy.
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Thursday Links

Posted on June 12, 2025June 11, 2025 by John C. Goodman
  • How Cato would reform Medicare.
  • Study: physical fitness is associated with lower mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer and even accidents. (speculative)
  • Meta-analysis: cutting back on social media use does not conclusively lead to meaningful improvements in youth mental health.
  • AAF: Senate attempts to cut Medicare Advantage funding are a mistake.
  • Trump now opposes Medicaid money laundering by the states (taxing providers and then  giving the money back after it is matched) that got a big boost during his first administration.
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Friday Links

Posted on May 16, 2025May 15, 2025 by John C. Goodman
  • The plan that is now being debated in the House has net spending reductions of roughly $1.2 trillion. Instead of spending $89.3 trillion, the “cruel” Republicans want to only spend $88.1 trillion – a measly 1.5% cut.
  • “Our research finds that the growing presence of asylum seekers [illegal immigrants] residing in homeless shelters explains about 60 percent of this rise in sheltered homelessness.”
  • “The Trump administration handed Medicare Advantage plans a massive gift on Monday, finalizing payment rates for 2026 significantly higher than what regulators in the Biden administration sketched out.”
  • An “intelligent” hospital room allows for virtual nursing.
  • Antarctica’s massive ice sheet is growing, not shrinking.
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Are Drug Middlemen to Blame for High Drug Prices?

Posted on May 9, 2025May 9, 2025 by Devon Herrick

Over the years I have worked on projects defending the role of drug middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). PBMs are essentially volume purchasers of drugs who manage drug benefits for insurers, Medicare, Medicaid, and health plans. PBMs negotiate deals with drug makers, wholesalers, and pharmacies. At least in theory, health plans benefit from the PBM’s buying power, getting most of the drug rebates and negotiated discounts PBMs arranged with drug makers.

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For many years, our health care blog was the only free enterprise health policy blog on the internet. Then, when the NCPA closed its doors, the health blog stopped as well.

During this five-year hiatus no one else has come forward to claim the space. So, my colleagues and I have decided to restart the blog in connection with the Goodman Institute. We invite you and others to use this forum to share your views.

John C. Goodman,

Visit www.goodmaninstitute.org

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