- The human circulatory system is 60,000 miles long.
- While waiting for government price negotiations to begin, Pfizer Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. have raised prices on nearly 1,000 products so far this year.
- Matt Holt discovers that he pays more for drugs than his insurer does – just like Medicare enrollees. Too bad he didn’t do more to help stop the congressional Democrats from rescinding the Trump executive order that would have ended this practice—at least for Medicare.
- Are politicians playing doctor on marijuana, or are they just getting big brother out of the way?
- JAMA: AI can’t be included as a coauthor on published articles.
Category: Wednesday Links
Wednesday Links
- Blue Cross say its reforms would save $767B over 10 years. Chief among them: pay the same price for medical care, regardless of where it is delivered. That means a facility can’t bill a higher rate to Medicare, just because it has a link to a hospital.
- To save a child from a rare disease, a one-time injection costs $1.7 million. (NYT) I don’t have a problem with the cost. But who is going to pay for it?
- Should doctors bill for answering patients’ emails? (NYT) I say, yes. Other professionals bill by time. Why should doctors do the same?
- Ten myths About nutrition. Myth No 1: fresh is better than frozen, canned or dried fruits and vegetables. (NYT)
- 3 problems with Covid boosters: (1) the virus is evolving much faster than the vaccines can be updated; (2) vaccines have hard-wired our immune systems to respond to the original Wuhan strain, so we churn out fewer antibodies that neutralize variants targeted by updated vaccines; (3) antibodies rapidly wane after a few months. (WSJ)
Wednesday Links
- Covid study: almost no form of pandemic preparedness helped to ameliorate or shorten the pandemic. Compared to other countries, the United States did not perform poorly because of cultural values such as individualism, collectivism, selfishness, or lack of trust.
- Are science and technology becoming less disruptive?
- MLK Day studies reviewed, including this finding: Slavery played no major role in the US economic growth.
- Is the decline of religion causing a rise in “deaths of despair”?
Wednesday Links
- Pfizer board member pressured Twitter to suppress info on natural immunity and low Covid risk to children.
- The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated an overall decline in religious attendance. Arnold Kling extends to observation to the reluctance of employees to return to work and the disengagement of college students.
- Now we learn. WaPo: Russian trolls on Twitter had little impact on 2016 voters.
- Solution to Obamacare’s high premiums and narrow networks: Let people purchase plans from Puerto Rico and other US territories from established insurers – like Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana and BlueCross BlueShield — which already do business in at least one territory and have provider networks in Arizona.