I began my career as an accountant for a nonprofit hospital. If you think the hospital executives were unconcerned about profit you would be wrong. As an aside, that is true of all nonprofit organizations. They must earn more than they spend to stay in business. This is where it gets complicated.
Category: Public Insurance
WSJ: Senators Want to Crack Down on Social Media Influencers Touting Drugs and Bogus Health Remedies
Have you noticed that drug commercials for debilitating diseases often end with healthy people going about their lives after taking the drug. Then, off camera a fast-talking man or woman rushes through a list of hideous potential side effects. The reason for the fast-talking narrator is because the list of major side effects and contraindications are required by law. Now a Senate Committee is up in arms that influencers on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, are touting weight-loss drugs for money but aren’t disclosing side effects.
Thursday Links
- Capretta reviews the Einav/Finkelstein book: We’ve Got You Covered.
- Why should people get vaccinated for low-probability risks?
- Matt Ridley: The most lethal industrial or scientific accident that has ever occurred was the covid virus leak from the lab in Wuhan. So why does the scientific community refuse to discuss it?
- Only 14% of federal spending is “discretionary.” Eliminating the federal deficit would require eliminating all discretionary spending plus an 11% reduction in “non-compressible” expenditures (mandatory programs, defense, and interest on the public debt).
- Idaho having difficulty executing a prisoner. Whatever happened to the firing squad?
- There is a reason why the kakapo’s mating habits are so strange.
The British NHS Considers Many Drugs Too Costly to Cover
I recently read about British man who claimed that a new Alzheimer’s drug gave him his life back. When he began showing early signs of dementia his doctor recommended that he enroll in a clinical trial testing donanemab, an experimental Alzheimer’s drug. The man claimed he could tell the difference after he began taking it. Not discussed in the article is that after the clinical trial ends he will not be able to continue taking it unless he pays for it privately.