In response to something I had written, a man called my office to lecture me about it. He explained that if medical inflation was higher than investment rates of return, it would be nearly impossible for an insurance company to make money selling coverage for long term care. He had a point. Due to the skyrocketing cost of long-term care, many people are finding their long-term care premiums are skyrocketing.
Monday Links
- Why “coffee is good for you” studies are probably wrong.
- Approximately 89% of orbiting satellites now belong to commercial firms as opposed to government or military groups. (All about Elon.)
- Do people in Blue Zones really live longer? (NYT)
- David Henderson on the Oregon Medicaid experiment:
- Those who were not enrolled got 80% of the medical care as those who were.
- The unenrolled paid only 20 cents on the dollar for the care they received.
- There was no difference in the physical health of the enrolled and the unenrolled.
- Henderson: additional evidence that access to medical care does not explain health disparities:
- Study: annual death rates in Nevada were 40 to 50% higher than in Utah. Yet The differences could not be attributed to medical care, income, schooling, or climate
- Study: Medicare spending per person in McAllen, Texas was twice the level of El Paso. Yet McAllen residents were not enjoying better health.
Saturday Links
- In most developed countries, out-of-pocket-spending on health care as a percent of household income is higher than it is in the US.
- Dr. Marty Makary on four health myths.
- Study: Expanding access to weight loss drugs could prevent more than 40,000 deaths a year in the United States.
- Researchers refuse to publish their own study showing that puberty blockers did not improve the mental health of children.
- A secret shopper survey called the first 100 doctors on Anthem’s directory. Only seven out of the 100 actually accepted the insurance and would take new patients.
- How often Nobel Prize winning economists have been wrong about national politics.
- Kotlikoff: Ten Medicare mistakes to avoid.
Friday Links
- Tomas Philipson: Why price controls on Ozempic could make overall health care costs go up.
- No, millionaires and billionaire’s do not pay lower tax rates than school teachers.
- 35% of bachelor’s degrees from liberal arts colleges result in a negative ROI.
- “In dual-income households within the top socioeconomic quintile, only 29 percent of wives earn more than their husbands, whereas in the bottom quintile, an incredible 69 percent of wives out-earn their husbands.” HT: Arnold Kling
- Ways in which FDR was anti-Black workers.