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.
Category: Single-Payer/Medicare-for-All
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.
NYT: Medicare to Curtail Abusive Spending on Hyper-Expensive Bandages
Going after Medicare abuse is like playing whack a mole. Just when you think you have made some headway another mole pops out. The Biden Administration, and now the Trump Administration, is moving to limit the use – and limit the price paid – for so-called skin substitutes in Medicare. Skin substitutes are newfangled bandages.