Wednesday Links – 1 July 2026

In March … a surgical assistant in Dallas earned $50,456 through arbitration for a prostate removal operation. The surgeon, who accepted the patient’s insurance, earned $1,843. (NYT)

“The surgery done 700,000 times per year is no better than a placebo surgery.”

Drug economics: the marginal cost of one more pill is almost zero; but the marginal cost of treatments based on the sequencing of your individual genome can be quite high.

“The general pattern … research points to is that many people don’t use the time they save using AI to do less; they use the time to take on new tasks.” (The Atlantic)

This hospital has opted out of Medicare, charges market prices in its ER and turns patients away if they can’t pay. (Statnews)