Tag Archives: Healthcare

I am a member of AARP. I am also a part of its MediGap Plan N Program, and Part D Pharmaceutical. Just like to shop at one store. Some do not believe in MediGap. If you are healthy and do not think you will have to pay the Part A $1600(?) deductible and the 20% of costs. Then skip MediGap. Do you feel Lucky? Then toss the dice. You may be lucky, I am not. With Part D, I use Walgreens and we are having a faceoff. Everything was fine until they...

I agree with Charles Gaba. Medicare Advantage is not much better than Commercial Healthcare Insurance. To wit, it is Commercial Healthcare Insurance gussied up to look like FFS Medicare. The extra benefits given to enrollees in Medicare Advantage comes from FFS Medicare expenditures. Furthermore, the companies providing healthcare to those on Medicare bid low and are paid high: “benchmarks and payments remain above FFS spending levels. We estimate...

“Jawboning, the moral suasion in the context of economics and politics. In action such is the use of authority to persuade various entities to act in certain ways. It can sometimes be underpinned by the implicit threat of future government regulation.” President Joe Biden uses the bully pulpit during the State of the Union address to call for a universal price cap on insulin for all diabetes patients. The proposal is very unlikely to pass the...

The biggest driver of healthcare cost is simply “pricing” increases reflected in hospitals, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare insurance. It was Dr. Donald Berwick while head of Medicare and Medicaid during the 1st half of the Obama administration has said, repeatedly, that at least 1/3 of Medicare dollars ware wasted on unnecessary tests, procedures and drugs that provide no benefit for the patient. Here is Dr. Berwick again discussing healthcare...

I am late in posting “In-Box” due to other things going on at home. Talk of Healthcare? I fractured a tooth. It now has to be replaced with a bridge. I did not like the idea of a Sears Best drilling a hole in my jaw-bone for a stud to mount a tooth. Next up an eye operation which Medicare will cover. Then down to the VA to make contact again. This week there were a lot of interesting subjects to read. So many of them, I could double the length of...

Perfect follow-up to Dean’s earlier commentary “Declining population and diminished national power is bad news?” which I also posted at Angry Bear. In Dean’s earlier commentary, he makes a point of declining population not being a big issue. Decreasing productivity would be a far bigger issue except it is not an issue in the US. The numbers of older people are increasing in the US. As Dean points out, “If wage growth moves in step with productivity...

In March, 2022, Pew Research released a study showing that in 2020, 23% of Americans spent more than half their income on rent. Since then, rents in most parts of the country have gone up 16% (because they could). Safe to say, the income of those 23% did not go up 16%. Rent increases play a major role in the current round of inflation. Though the percentage of increase in rent (inflation) was greater than most other items; the media has said...

An introduction to how the CDC views firearm safety, firearm violence prevention, definitions, and some numbers to think about. More Detail. It is not an attack on your ownership of a bullet-spewing-weapon. It is a recital of what they are seeing from the numbers reported. If you own a firearm, you do have an obligation to ensure its safe usage and storage. “Fast Facts: Firearm Violence Prevention, Violence Prevention, and Injury Center,” CDC....

So much for the Covid Gap disappearing. The difference in the death rate for Covid still exists politically. It looks like the Red/Blue COVID Death Rate Divide didn’t disappear after all, ACA Signups, Charles Gaba Last month Charles Gaba noted the partisan COVID death rate gap again. And again it had been higher in the reddest U.S. counties than the bluest counties every month since July 2020. It appeared to be on the verge of finally...

More Economic and Government topics the time. Much of it due to the pandemic caused economic issue. It is interesting as to how the news varies from week to week and what becomes important. I did add reports on Ukraine’s economy for 2022. You will see percentages from ~31% to ~38% cited depending on who you read. The Housing economy in in Arizona has come to a near standstill. At an AZ State House Committee meeting, the representatives were...