The commentary was initially written at EconoFact by Mark Shepard. I took liberties with this commentary to emphasize the many points the author presents and to make it an easier read. I also added an introduction and some history on the ACA. There is much here to absorb. I felt breaking the commentary out further […]
It has been a bit since I have said anything about the Opioid epidemic. Such was brought on by companies and distributors (more like PBMs) claiming it was harmless and non-addicting. I do want to catch up and see how the Sacklers made out. Whether the Gov finally put the screws to them or did […]
“Medicare Advantage: Questionable Use of Health Risk Assessments Continues to Drive Up Payments to Plans by Billions,” Office of Inspector General | Government Oversight | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Why OIG Did This Review Medicare Advantage (MA) companies receive higher risk-adjusted payments from CMS for enrollees who are sicker, which helps to […]
The Government made it possible for people to choose between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage for their care at 65. An alternative was provided under the guise of commercial healthcare providing better healthcare and other services to those who qualify for Medicare at a lesser cost. There are superficial and also meaningful pluses that are […]
Robert Devereaux, MD wrote a piece on upcoding at MedPage. “The Trouble With Upcoding Extends Far Beyond Ethics.” This is a topic I have touched upon a couple of times and have experienced myself. Fix the issue I am telling you about if you can or pass me along to someone who can. “The practice […]
Recent articles I have been reading suggest Medicare Advantage provides healthcare at a lesser cost than Traditional Medicare. Or maybe it would be better to qualify this as individuals claim MA plans do so? I do not know whether such takes into consideration the cost of a Supplemental Plan or not and also Part D […]
This week’s Covid coverage includes the most common variants … currently circulating – by r. j. Sigmund Briefly, since the CDC’s Covid demographic metrics continue to recede, albeit slowly. Among the “early indicators” “test positivity”, or the percentage of tests for Covid that were positive, fell to 4.8% during the week ending November 2nd, down […]
In 2020, I enrolled in the Moderna clinical trial of their mRNA vaccine. I got the first jab in August 2020, and it turns out I was in the vaccine arm of the trial, not the placebo arm. I’ve now had seven vaccinations, as the vaccine has been updated. I contracted COVID once. Of course, […]
My parents retired to rural upstate NY, where they lived happily for 20 years. But naturally, as they aged, their health declined. At one point, my mom had a pulmonary embolism, and landed in a community hospital in Bennington VT, about 30 miles away. She got the care she needed, but when she was later […]
I have two dental implants, the first of which was done nearly ten years ago. They were both done after a tooth broke and the dentist told me he couldn’t save the tooth. I could have just left the hole, but elected to fill it with an implant, which was done in each case by […]