- As many as 250,000 people die every year because they are misdiagnosed in the emergency room, with doctors failing to identify serious medical conditions like stroke, sepsis and pneumonia.
- Against a carbon tax.
- Can entrepreneurs solve the problem of hospital price transparency?
- Can you raise a family on one income?
- Why private entrepreneurs are sometimes better than public health bureaucracies.
Investigation: The Feds System To Ban Bad Actors from Medicare Does Not Work
There is considerable waste, fraud and abuse in federal and state health care programs. Part of the problem is the government relies on the Honor System when people are banned from Medicare and Medicaid. Those banned are expected to self-report their criminal histories or infractions when moving to a new company. According to a Kaiser Health News investigation:
Wednesday Links
- Man harassed by collection agencies over an unpaid $2.57 hospital bill.
- Socialized medicine in Oregon: Measure 111 amends the state constitution to establish “the obligation of the state to ensure that every resident of Oregon has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right.” (WSJ)
- How colleges deceive students about the real cost of their enrollment.
- Paul Ryan’s plan to save America’s finances. Social Security reform is bold. Health care reforms are Meh.
Does Grandma Need a roommate? (Alternatives to Long Term Care)
Nearly 70% of seniors will need long-term care at some point in their lives. There are nearly 66,000 long-term care (LTC) facilities in the United States, with a total of about 1 million licensed beds. That will not be nearly enough as the Baby Boomer generation approaches the period in their lives of declining health. The average LTC resident is a woman, accounting for two-thirds of residents. Women stay an average of 3.7 years, compared to men who stay 2.2 years, on average. The reason women outnumber men two-to-one and spend more time in nursing homes is due to women outliving their husbands.