- AEI reforms the health care system: antitrust, price transparency and site neutrality for hospitals; Medicare Part B and 340B reforms for drugs.
- Why electronic medical records aren’t working.
- The downside of making the overdose reversal drug naloxone an over-the-counter drug: most health insurance doesn’t pay for OTC drugs.
- Study: telehealth significantly reduced opioid overdoses during the pandemic.
- Americans want less government spending, but not on any program you are likely to think of.
Category: Medicare
Is Medicare Running Out of Money?
Here is the actual state of affairs.
Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) has a trust fund and a payroll tax.
For many years, the receipts from payroll taxes exceeded the benefits paid out. So, the trust fund was in surplus. The extra funds were spent on other government programs and special government bonds were created, but not the kind of bond that is bought and sold on Wall Street. They were basically IOUs the government wrote to itself.
Thursday Links
- Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) leads a bipartisan group of House members who want to bring drug production onshore.
- Warren piles on — attacking MA plans. Private insurers have a “long history of exploiting the government out of billions of dollars,” she says.
- Against the “AI pause.”
- Yglesias: The problem with the media is the audience.
- Does Medicaid expansion reduce employment?
Sunday Links
- AAF study of the effects of Medicare’s coming drug price negotiations: fewer than 6 million beneficiaries – less than 10% of enrollees – will benefit at all and for those with any saving 69% of will save less than $300.
- Given Trump and Biden executive orders promoting the idea, why is it taking so long to allow states to import drugs from Canada?
- Health Affairs authors: giving insulin to patients for free is cost effective. So why don’t insurers – including Medicare Part D insurers – do that? I explained that months ago.
- How health care was rationed during the pandemic: Mississippi case study.
- Left-of-center Tax Policy Center: people earning less than $400,000 will pay more taxes under the new Biden budget proposal. A lot more taxes!