- Blockbuster story: First person sickened by COVID-19 was the Chinese scientist who oversaw the “gain of function” research that created the virus.
- Harvard Medical School morgue manager and others sold stolen human remains.
- Health care to consume one out of every five dollars of national income.
- More progress on quantum computing.
- Is Merck being “coerced” by Medicare? Michael Cannon: No. David Henderson: Yes.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Health Sharing Ministries Popular with Many (but not all)
Health care sharing ministries have been around for years, and they fill a niche in a diverse insurance market shattered by Obamacare. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) has provisions that allow sharing ministries to coexist with Obamacare plans, which makes many consumers happy, but irritates some Obamacare advocates. It’s been a year since I last wrote…
Thursday Links
- US plans to rejoin UNESCO. Trump pulled us out because the organization is flagrantly anti-capitalist and anti-US. Biden is not only rejoining; he has agreed to $619 million in “arrears” payments.
- More than 90% of cancer centers are impacted by drug shortages.
- Cato paper on new technologies: Should we try to avoid harmful effects by regulation or by tort law?
- Is woke culture the reason Hollywood can’t make good movies any more – unless it recycles old plots and themes?
- Two different views of AI:
The New York Times: “Generative A.I. Can Add $4.4 Trillion in Value to Global Economy, Study Says,”
Bloomberg: “Biggest Losers of AI Boom Are Knowledge Workers, McKinsey Says.”
Some Medicare Hospice Care Firms Are Better than Others
We have written about Medicare hospice care several times in the past. John Goodman wrote about a new Medicare pilot program where the same health plans that manage seniors’ medical care will also manage their hospice benefits near end-of-life. I wrote about how Medicare hospice care is growing by leaps and bounds, which is attracting scammers who enroll ineligible patients (not likely to die in six months) and gouge taxpayers for care that is inappropriate.
The New York Times published an article on the difference in hospice care provided by nonprofit versus for-profit organizations. Purportedly, nonprofit organizations are a better value.