Much of the $280 billion in savings from its Medicare prescription drug provisions [the IRA bill] were siphoned off to fund green policies such as $7,500 electric-vehicle tax credits. Medicare will keep only about 15% of the savings for some relatively inexpensive new benefits, such as a $2,000 annual cap on pharmacy spending. That’s unfortunate considering the program’s costs are projected to spiral from about $1 trillion this year to $1.8 trillion in 2031.
Why is Medicare Money Paying for Teslas?
The New Weight Loss Drugs
It’s early, but nothing like these drugs has existed before… In fact, much about the drugs remains shrouded in mystery. Researchers discovered by accident that exposing the brain to a natural hormone at levels never seen in nature elicited weight loss. They really don’t know why, or if the drugs may have any long-term side effects.
Wednesday Links
- Jeff Goldsmith does an about face: vertical integration in health care doesn’t work.
- Study: Which matters more for ER spending – price increases or upcoding? Next study should examine the IQ of the insurers who pay the ER fees.
- 99% of hospitals pharmacists report drug shortages, causing 85% to ration treatments and 84% to rely on different dosages. (STAT)
- Another cost of covid lockdowns: fewer stage 1 cancers were diagnosed and treated – leading to more stage 4 cancers and deaths. (WSJ)
- The next president of Argentina may be a libertarian.
- School Choice in Los Angeles: It works.
- Scott Sumner has the best explanation I have seen on why inflation is a monetary phenomenon – something Keynesians have been slow to accept.
Everyone Is Forgetting About GROWTH
Everyone outside the White House is worried about the national debt, which is expected to accelerate from 100% of GDP today to nearly 200% over the next 30 years. But the standard forecast from the Congressional Budget Office is predicated on the assumption of 1.7% annual economic growth. But that’s way below the 3.2% average real growth rate of the U.S. economy from 1950-2005.
To borrow a phrase from JFK, when he was running for president in 1960: “We can do bettah.”