Tag Archives: Hot Topics

Introduction: “new analysis finds that that MSSP, the oldest and largest Medicare accountable care organization (ACO) program, has lost money for individuals it covers and overall for Medicare it saves just 75¢ per $1000.” AB: Not much of gain there. What does it do for other programs? “Largest ACO Program Saves Piddling Amounts for Medicare,” PNHP. As taken from “Estimated Savings From the Medicare Shared Savings Program,” JAMA Network,...

Jobless claims end the year on a solidly positive note  – by New Deal democrat For our last data of 2023, initial jobless claims remained at a very low level, up 12,000 from one week ago to 218,000. The four week average declined 250 to 212,000. With the usual one week delay, continuing claims rose 14,000 to 1.875 million: On a YoY% basis, initial claims are up only 2.3%, while the more important four week average is up a mere 0.1%....

Remember the wildly successful Trump University? Me neither.But elect Donald, and he promises to build on that success by stealing the endowments of major universities to create a national diploma mill.Click the link.Trump University 2.0

Repeat home sale prices may be easing back into their pre-pandemic YoY range  – by New Deal democrat As I forewarned last week, this holiday week is very light on data, so don’t be surprised by me taking some time off. We did get November home prices for repeat sales this morning from both Case Shiller and the FHFA, so let me just pass on a brief note. Seasonally adjusted prices per the FHFA rose 0.2% in November. For the last half year,...

President Joe Biden “has been clear that we welcome manufacturers across the world building their futures in America with American jobs and American workers. However, he also believes the purchase of this iconic American-owned U.S Steel company by a foreign entity — even one from a close ally — appears to deserve serious scrutiny in terms of its potential impact on national security and supply chain reliability.” Labor in the form of United...

More economic news an d this time new single family housing. Completing the housing market picture for November, sales decline bigly, and prices remain down YoY   – by New Deal democrat Our final important pre-year end release was also the final item of housing data for the month, new home sales. To reiterate, the value of this metric is that it is the most leading of all housing metrics. Its big drawback is that it is very noisy and...

Fixing a Critical Safety Net Program: 340B, Third Way, Darbin Wofford and David Kendall – Part 2 The Solution: A Patient-Centered 340B Program The 340B program is an essential tool for uninsured and vulnerable patients to access lifesaving medicines. But program discounts should improve patient access and lower costs—not pad hospital profits and incentivize further consolidation in the health care system. To address these issues,...

It appears there will be no layoffs pre-Christmas and Christmas. After Christmas, the delays in implementing EVs at GM will result in layoffs in Michigan. A holly jolly holiday season for initial jobless claims  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims rose 2,000 last week to 205,000, while the four-week average declined -1,500 to 212,000. With the usual one week delay, continuing claims declined -1,000 to 1.865 million: No...

Brief and interesting charting of the top countries in GDP Ranking. As taken from “World GDP Rankings 2023 | Top 10 Countries Ranked By GDP” – Forbes India. If you have not been on the IMF site, it is worth a look as there is plenty of data and ways to sort the data. The top 10 largest economies/ richest countries in the world in 2023, sourced from IMF data (as of December 04, 2023) “The United States of America, China, Japan, Germany,...

Angry Bear has posted about the 340B Drug Pricing program several times now. What is key to this program is it making available medicines which are out of reach for those who are lower income and uninsured patients. However, the program is being used to divert funding to other hospital facilities. Some are going as far as closing portions of a facility, moving the care to other facilities, and maintaining the original facility so as to be eligible...