- Gorman and Goodman: Texas was right not to expand Medicaid.
- Schaeffer Center: Medicare Advantage enrolls lower-spending people, leading to large overpayments.
- Why DC is so dangerous: “the overwhelming preponderance of lethal violence is carried out with illegal weapons” and “most gun arrests don’t lead to charges.”
- Prenatal tests: Very accurate for common genetic disorders like Down syndrome. But for rare diseases, the positive results were wrong 80 percent to 93 percent of the time
- Janitor cut the power to a lab freezer, destroying decades’ worth of research materials valued at nearly $1 million.
Category: Health Insurance
Many Doctors Dislike Working for The Man
The practice of medicine has changed tremendously within my lifetime. A retired physician came to my office years ago lamenting that his esteemed profession had turned into a business over the course of his career. That raises something of an ethical dilemma: doctors want to practice medicine but some feel like they’re being forced to practice in ways they find objectionable.
The New York Times explained, “The corporatization of health care has changed the practice of medicine, causing many physicians to feel alienated from their work.”
Thursday Links
- A (somewhat weak) defense of eating animals.
- The US has been falling behind other countries in life expectancy. (77 vs 82 years for all high-income countries)
- Possible reasons: we have more deaths by car crashes, gun homicides, suicides and overdoses.
- George Halvorson: Medicare Advantage is saving money for the Medicare program – despite contrary claims.
- Americans are the biggest consumers of high fructose corn syrup in the world. The reason: sugar quotas make the price of sugar in the US really high.
Wednesday Links
- Aaron Carroll: there is no scientific reason to avoid artificial sweeteners. But there are good reasons for many people to reduce your intake of sugar.
- House votes today on personal and portable health insurance (funded by an employer) – essentially codifying a Trump executive order.
- The House also will vote to codify a Trump executive order on Association Health Plans that has been stymied by the courts.
- Incentives matter: Lionel Messi could play soccer anywhere, but the lack of a state income tax helped draw him to Florida.
- Why veterans need private doctor alternatives to the VA.