Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

A Chance to Modernize Prison Healthcare

A Chance to Modernize Health Care behind Bars, Section 1115 Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Waivers | NEJM, Brendan Saloner, Ph.D. California and Washington are the first states to receive waivers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy. The policy generally prohibits Medicaid from paying for health care for […]

One Tenth of a Mg makes a big difference in a drug price and it has no clinical consequence

Interesting story about a pharma company taking an old drug finding a new usage for it at a particular dosage, filing a patent for the treatment at the specified dosage, and potentially blocking treatment of the disorder at a milligram higher dosage. Drug stores will not fill a prescription at a higher dosage if it […]

Blame and Consequences

There are good reasons to want to know the cause of an accident, a fire, – or even a crime; finding out the cause of – the reason for – something undesirable happening could help prevent a recurrence. For instance, to ensure safety and avoid accidents, property owners in Florida are required to conduct and […]

Arab Oil embargo 50 years ago weaponized oil to inflict economic trauma

I thought this article was a solid rehash of what took place in the early seventies when we were driving the inefficient monsters Detroit was manufacturing. It was only a short time earlier, smaller and more efficient foreign cars arrived in the US from places such as Japan. I was fortunate to snag a Datsun […]

Is the solution to global warming atomic or diatomic

Also, is the solution just dissolved iron sulfate or also dissolved silica ? Sorry for the pun in the title. It is a reference to one of the hives on twitter — the nuclear energy enthusiasts who note the large fraction of zero carbon electricity currently produced by nuclear reactors.* Another approach to dealing with […]

Open Thread October 14 2023 State of Global Water Resources 2022

State of Global Water Resources 2022, World Meteorological Organization, wmo.int. The hydrological cycle is undergoing significant changes, with increasing global variability. Mainly due to climate change and human interventions. Living with Water Scarcity, Angry Bear, Dan Crawford, Living with Water Scarcity (2nd edition), The one-handed economist, David Zetland.

Status Quo Bias all time winner: the rules of the senate

Currently US ally Israel is responding to a massive terrorist invasion. The US response is slightly hampered by the fact that the  United States has “no confirmed ambassadors to Israel, Egypt, Oman, or Kuwait”, also “the counterterrorism envoy position and human rights envoy position as well as the top job at the U.S. Agency for International Development […]

Pure, unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world

One has to ask how we have reached this point in the Middle East. There are many actions taken which have maligned Palestinians and Arabs. If we allow the Gaza to be abandoned by Palestinians due to terrorists, who follows? This sounds too much like the growth of Israel at the expense of the Palestinians. […]

Medicare Advantage Overbilling Taxpayers by $140 Billion a Year

Medicare Advantage Overbilling Taxpayers by $140 Billion a Year, This is Enough to Wipe Out Medicare Premiums, Informed Comment, Juan Cole and Jake Johnson. AB‘s Joel sent me an Informed Comment article. I read the article and knew there was more to the issue than just overcharging the government by upcoding Medicare Advantage plan members. […]