- Dr. Marty Makary: The best way to lower drug costs in the United States are to stop taking drugs we don’t need.
- The Longshoreman’s union negotiator makes nearly $900,000 dollars a year and owned a 76-foot yacht, and the modal longshoreman makes north of $150,000 a year. HT: Maxwell Tabarrok.
- After ten years, Bob Graboyes thoughts on health care system are highly relevant today.
- Who has it easier in the USA today? While 68% of Democrats believe men have the advantage, only 32% of Republicans agree.
- What quality ratings look like in the Medicare Advantage program. There are no quality measurements for traditional Medicare.
- What happens when private equity takes over the emergency room. (a negative opinion)
- Why telemedicine needs to cross state lines.
- Stem cell research was used to cure Type One diabetes.
Category: Single-Payer/Medicare-for-All
One More Effect of the IRA Bill
Medicare Advantage plans are not included in the Biden Administration’s “demonstration project,” which effectively bribes insurers to not raise their out-of-pocket costs for drug coverage.
Source: Statnews
Friday Links
- In 2023, the U.S. spent $4.8 trillion on healthcare. As much as half of that massive expenditure, $2.4 trillion, paid for activities unrelated to patient care called BARRCOME – bureaucracy, administration, rules, regulations, compliance, oversight, mandates, and enforcement.
- Medicare physician payments declined substantially from 2001 to 2024 — a whopping 29%.
- Currently, physicians are the only Medicare providers who do not receive annual, inflation-based payment updates.
- Head of the International Longshoremen’s Association explains what the strike is all about, along with a video showing how dockworkers can be replaced by automation. (it’s a long way from On the Water Front.
- Cato study: Marijuana doesn’t make you crazy.
- An Elon Musk device is allowing the blind to see.
Medicare’s Bribe to Coax Part D Insurers Not to Raise Their Premiums on the Eve of the Election Will Be Costly For Taxpayers
Yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its analysis of a newly announced Biden-Harris program intended to paper over the flaws of the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA). Based on CBO estimates, this election-year stunt to artificially lower the cost of seniors’ Part D premiums will cost taxpayers at least $7 billion in 2025, including $2 billion in additional interest on our already ballooning debt. If implemented as planned, this program could cost taxpayers more than $21 billion over the three-year demonstration.
Source: House Budget Committee