- Site neutral Medicare payment for chemotherapy drugs will save cancer patients up to $1,055 every year.
- Most experts think MFN pricing will not substantially improve patient access to drugs in US.
- Is grandparenting good for the brain?
- Alex Tabarrok: What’s wrong with Trump’s pharmaceutical plan.
- To meet Medicaid’s new work requirements, many states will rely on an Equifax database that covers the wages and work hours of at least 99 million workers. Why does Bernie Sanders have a problem with that? (NYT)
- Claim: More than 80 percent of nurses experience workplace violence each year.
Category: Single-Payer/Medicare-for-All
Goodman on Health Policy
Why both parties missed an opportunity to reform Medicaid. Why they missed an opportunity to reform the Obamacare exchanges. Why partisanship is the biggest obstacle to sensible health reform.
Watch Dr. Goodman’s talk to the Public Affairs Luncheon Club in Dallas.
Thursday links – 5 February 2026
- Florida is the only state in the country the FDA has authorized to import prescription drugs. The problem: resistance from the Canadian government and the pharmaceutical industry.
- More policy volatility under Trump. Little evidence that it matters.
- Income-related Medicare premiums produce a 97,440 percent marginal tax rate. HT: David Henderson
- Why is Texas closing the door to foreign-trained doctors?
- Mamdani: New York City can’t cut 10% of the spending in the world’s most bloated municipal budget.
Who Enrolls in Medicare Advantage Plans?
The demographics of the Medicare Advantage (MA) program are very different from Fee For Service (FFS) Medicare, with greater enrollment of retired working class and middle class beneficiaries and greater Hispanic and African-American beneficiaries. With a holistic health benefits package constructed from FFS Medicare costing the beneficiary twice as much as Medicare Advantage, it is no surprise that the population enrolled in FFS Medicare who has purchased a separate Medigap plan are far wealthier and more likely to be Caucasian. Of the estimated 29.7 million enrolled in FFS Medicare in CY2022, 12.5 million purchased a Medigap plan with 91% being Caucasian.