- Gaming the patent system: drug companies have 74 patents apiece on America’s ten best-selling drugs—receiving over half of them after FDA approval.
- More than 3.1 million patients in 48 states have completed a consultation with an AI-powered chatbot.
- Federal employees are still not back to work. 17 of the 24 federal agencies in GAO’s review had an average occupancy of 25 percent or less.
- As of mid-2020, collections agencies held $140 billion in unpaid medical bills. That’s more than all other collections agency consumer debt combined.
- 80% of children with cancer survive at least five years in the wealthiest countries v. 30% in the rest of the world, according to WHO. (NYT)
Category: Saturday Links
Saturday Links
- Bernie Sanders has a new Medicare for All bill.
- Immortality may not be a blessing.
- Merritt Hawkins: The average wait time for new-patient to see a doctor is 26 days.
- CMS Proposal: Telehealth to Continue Unfettered Thru 2024. (InsideHealthPolicy)
- Social Security is already very progressive: An individual in the bottom fifth of lifetime earners receives a benefit equal to about 80% of their inflation-adjusted pre-retirement earnings. A middle quintile earner receives about 50%, while the top fifth receives 32%.
- Did Obamcare reduce the Disability Rolls? No.
- David Henderson: the reparations debate has everything backwards.
- Words of wisdom from Scott Sumner: The Fed doesn’t battle inflation, it creates inflation… The inflation we’ve experienced over the past few years is almost entirely created by a highly expansionary monetary policy, which drove up nominal GDP.
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.
Saturday Links
- Top NIH official, Fauci adviser admits hiding emails regarding COVID origins
- One-fourth of 40-year-olds in the US have never been married.
- What’s wrong with price transparency? It’s tied to insurance billing codes instead of meaningful bundles of services patients can understand.
- Reason for more wealth inequality: longer life spans. (WSJ)
- Study: estimated cost of CMS delay in approving the new Alzheimer’s drug: $13.1 billion to $545.6 billion.
- Does cold immersion therapy really work? Probably not.