- Families making as much as $600,000 can get an Obamacare subsidy. The entire W&M hearing with Sec. Becerra is either very funny or very sad, depending on how the spirit moves you.
- The federal government spent a total of $4.1 trillion on transfer payments to individuals in FY 2022. By comparison, the government spent $2.8 trillion on these programs in 2019.
- Cowen: Would an AI Pause in the US open the door to other countries? What if it stifles the cure for cancer?
- GFPT-4 fails the sophomore econ exam.
Category: Medicare
Little Effort Goes into Estate Recovery for Medicaid Long Term Care
A few years ago I was visiting a friend and noticed the house beside him looked different. It had been vacant but was now occupied. I asked if he had a new neighbor? He told me his neighbor, an elderly man, had gone into a nursing home and passed away after a lengthy stay. The man’s son inherited his father’s house and moved in. About that same time another friend mentioned his grandfather’s health had declined to the point where he had to be moved into a nursing home until his death.
In both instances the families were not well off. Probably the only major asset each had was their home. In both cases the homes passed to heirs upon the death of their owners, who died in nursing homes paid for by taxpayers.
Wednesday Links
- Biden Adm: 15 million people are at risk of losing Medicaid coverage, now that the public health emergency is ending. Five states have already started the removal process.
- Does the FDA do more harm than good? Peltzman revisited.
- Poll: Medicare eligible population likes the idea of more free stuff.
- David R. Henderson, reviews Deborah Birx’s new book.
- ChatGPT fails a sophomore economics exam.
Why a Telephone Consult is Billed as a Hospital Visit
I have often told the story about the time my wife unknowingly tried to schedule a CT scan at a nearby hospital outpatient department. As luck would have it, prior authorization is all that saved us from a huge bill, of which her share was going to be $2,700. I quickly found a free-standing radiology clinic that had a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Texas for $403. Oddly enough, BCBS was willing to approve a scan at either facility. Nobody called her to explain the huge mistake she was about to make by getting a diagnostic scan at a hospital-owned facility. Here is the thing: Health insurers, Medicare and Medicaid pay hospitals higher prices for the same services that are available elsewhere for a fraction of the cost. Neither do payers alert patients that cheaper alternatives exist.