- We have been advocating OTC birth control for years.
- Adverse selection problems in insurance markets go away if people must insure by household rather than as individuals. At least in Pakistan.
- Is your doctor employed by a private equity firm? (NYT)
- AARP Represents Health Insurers, Not Seniors
- Is compression of morbidity being reversed? Considering 300 diseases in the USA from 1990 vs. 2017, health span (health-adjusted life expectancy) grew by 2 years, but life expectancy grew by 3 years.
- The Health Care Blog goes wacko: “The greatest health equity threat to Medicaid – and Medicare – beneficiaries is the climate crisis.”
Category: Medicare
How Medicare Advantage Plans Cover Drugs
Average annual deductibles in independent prescription drug plans (PDPs) are roughly four times higher than those in Medicare Advantage plans (MA-PDs) ($398 versus $90). Average monthly premiums for PDPs are also roughly 3.5 times higher than in MA-PDPs ($40 versus $11). Similarly, MA-PDP formularies cover a higher share of potentially coverable Part D drugs than PDPs (89 percent compared to 83 percent). At the same time, MA-PDPs impose utilization management requirements (such as prior authorization and quantity limits) on formulary covered drugs at a lower rate, relative to PDPs.
Source: Benedic N. Ippolito and Boris Vabson, The Impact Of Medicare Advantage Growth On Part D Competition, Costs, and Coverage. (AEI)
Wednesday Links
- Judge: the federal government cannot conspire with social media to limit free speech.
- Expanded Child tax credit: Neither labor force participation nor total hours worked changed significantly during the months when benefits were increased and work requirements were removed.
- Study: Medicare enrollment improves financial health.
- About 39 percent of US workers are engaged in nontraditional work (freelancing, contracting, gig, and self-employment).
Monday Links
- 93% of cancer centers report a shortage of carboplatin and 70% report shortages for cisplatin.
- Up to 500,000 U.S. cancer patients could be at risk of having their treatment disrupted. (WSJ)
- WHO is about to declare that Aspartame, a common artificial sweetener, is “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” The back and forth on this issue never seems to end.
- Expected lifetime out-of-pocket spending by Medicare enrollees: $157,500 (Fidelity) to $197,000 (Employee Benefit Research Institute). (NYT)
- A single year with a grossly ineffective teacher can cost a classroom of students $1.4 million in lifetime earnings. Yet it can take 10 years and $250,000 to $450,000 to fire a lousy California teacher, and fewer than 0.002% are dismissed for unprofessional conduct or poor performance. (WSJ)