- British patients are not grateful for the free care they receive from the NHS.
- Pfizer: antibiotic shortage could worsen syphilis epidemic. (NYT)
- Should you worry about “forever chemicals” in your drinking water?
- Turley to Zuckerberg: “Release the Facebook Files.”
- Evidence lacking that dietary supplements sharpen the mind.
- Negative results from Portugal’s experiment with decriminalization of drug use.
- Another article on drug shortages that fails to ask the obvious question: Why isn’t there a shortage of aspirin?
Category: Cost of Healthcare
Obamacare Doesn’t Want Competition from Better Insurance Plans
HHS, the Treasury Department and the Department of Labor issued proposed rules on Friday that clamp down on short-term limited duration health plans, which offer cheap but sparse coverage that Democrats deride as “junk insurance.” The rule, which is meant to protect consumers and bolster the Obamacare exchange, would overturn a 2018 Trump-era regulation and satisfies liberal lawmakers and patient groups who have demanded the administration act since its first days in the White House.
Saturday Links
- Sirtuins, a compound in red wine, doesn’t that make you live longer. That undermines an argument in Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t.
- Here is a critical review of lifespan.
- One more study: IQ is positively related to life outcomes.
- Sen Cassidy outlines his prescription drug policy agenda.
- Claim: 1 in 3 children in the world are poisoned by lead.
- Oncologists are rationing inexpensive cancer drugs. (NYT)
- Of 252 new drugs approved by the US FDA from 2011 to 2021, only 3 (1.2%) would meet the UK’s cost benefit threshold ($20,000 to $30,000 per quality adjusted life year saved).
- White House targets short term health insurance plans.
Supreme Court Justice Tells a Whopper
“For high-risk Black newborns, having a Black physician more than doubles the likelihood that the baby will live.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson