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.
Category: Single-Payer/Medicare-for-All
Saturday Links
- The (health ) case against homelessness.
- Lead poisoning is a worldwide problem.
- The negative relationship between obesity and income is almost entirely driven by women. The relationship between income and weight is flat for men.
- Finally the press gets its comeuppance in the Columbia Journalism Review for promoting the Trump-Russia hoax.
- JAMA study: Medicare Advantage plans have higher quality and lower cost than traditional Medicare.
Monday Links
- Elon Musk threatens to release damning information on Twitter’s internal discussions about the decision to censor the Hunter Biden lap top story.
- Fauci leaves with no apologies. Here is why apologies are needed.
- Scott Atlas: Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, as well as academics who supported lockdown measures, have left behind a harmful legacy that Americans are still grappling with today.
- New Biden regulations threaten to turn Medicaid into “Welfare for All”.
- Which is better: Medicare or Medicare Advantage? NYT gives a biased view.
Another Argument against Medicare for All
From my latest column at Forbes:
Consider the effect of having one insurer cover drugs, while the other two are covering medical care. If a diabetic skips his insulin and other medications, that is actually profitable for the drug insurer – since these are expenses it doesn’t have to cover. However, if such non-adherence to a drug regimen leads to emergency room visits and hospitalization, those are costs the other two insurers will have to bear.