- Study: A 10 percentage point increase in Medicare Advantage penetration is associated with a 1.5% decrease in total Medicare spending.
- CBO data: “Despite historically unprecedented economic gains for low-income Americans, more of them are dependent on government assistance than at any point in the country’s history.”
- Red states are gaining population. “Conspicuous among the losers are Illinois, California, and New York – a trifecta of big government, big government spending, and high taxes.”
- UnitedHealthcare now gets more than three-quarters of its revenues from Uncle Sam, even though it covers almost twice as many people in its private, commercial plans sunce the onset of Obamacare.
- What if AI could not only diagnose, but also write prescriptions? (Forbes)
- Delta: members of Congress no longer get to skip the TSA waiting lines. (Forbes)
Category: News and Events
Ozempic’s Patent is Expiring Around the World, but Not in U.S.
Ozempic and Wegovy (both Semaglutide) recently lost patent protection in countries where 40% of the world’s population live. The list includes India, China, Turkey, Canada, South Africa, and Brazil. Thus, a drug which most of these countries’ population could not afford may now have access to a weight-loss drug for as little as $15 a month. The price is speculative, firm prices are not yet known but will likely fall over time as more competitors begin to produce the drug.
Wednesday Links – 25 March 2026
- Coffee appears to be good for the brain.
- Congress: release the Epstein files, but don’t release any reports on our own misbehavior.
- Jerome Powell: “there’s zero net job creation in the private sector” over roughly the past six months.
- Is Elon going to pay TSA salaries?
- Yglesias: “the number one thing that I wish people understood about K-12 education in the United States is that while the [No-Child-Left-Behind] regime was in place, our schools got better.”
Congress will get its vote on the war with Iran
It appears Congress will finally get to vote on President Trump’s self-initiated war with Iran. It won’t be a direct vote on the war, even though Article I of the U.S. Constitution vests that power in Congress and not the executive branch. It will be an indirect vote providing funding for the war effort and replenishing our munitions — and perhaps other items.