Environmentalists may consider air conditioning something of a luxury but in many areas of the United States and the world it is a public health necessity.
Category: News and Events
Monday Links
- Public school open enrollment. In states that allow it, 10% of students attend a school based on choice, not on their residence.
- Student grades are higher when there is a father around.
- Analysis: work requirements lead to more work and higher incomes.
- Trustees: Social Security and Medicare Part A each have 8 years: With no reform, SS must be cut by 19%; Medicare by 11%.
- The combined (Republican) Medicaid and SNAP cuts of $110 billion a year will represent just 2.9 percent of total state spending.
- Of all the provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill, expanding the Health Savings Account tax cut garnered the highest support: 68% among Democrats, 77% among Republicans, and 67% among Independents. (Harvard CAP/Harris Poll on page 51)
WSJ: Health Insurers Vow to Streamline Prior Authorization
One (blunt) instrument to avoid unnecessary care is prior authorization. Doctors and patients hate prior authorization. Prior authorization is when your doctor wants to prescribe a certain drug or order a procedure but must seek approval from your health plan prior to providing that care. Critics claim that prior authorization is a rationing tool, designed to wear down patients into forgoing care due to the hassle. Congress and state governments occasionally weigh-in and try to reform the use of prior authorization.
Saturday Links
- Britain’s NHS has an elder care problem.
- Medicare Trustees: The Part A fund will now become insolvent in 2033 — three years earlier than previous predictions.
- AEI on the latest Medicare Trustees report.
- The FDA has granted approval to 270 treatments over its 30 years. Yet they have accounted for well below 1 percent of Medicaid spending.
- MAHA may bring back whole milk for kids.
- More reasons why the FDA should require proof of safety, but not efficacy, for new drug approvals.