About Covid-19
U.S. imposes Covid testing requirements on travelers from China “The United States will require all travelers from China to show a negative Covid-19 test before boarding flights to the U.S., federal health officials announced Wednesday, citing concerns about a surge of Covid infections in China and a lack of transparency from Chinese government officials about how widespread that country’s outbreak is…
The new rules apply to all travelers over two years old, including American citizens, and applies to all travelers regardless of vaccination status. It also applies to travelers who transit through China on their way to the U.S. The new requirements will take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Jan. 5, to give airlines time to implement them.”
Comment: Why did the US take so long to impose the requirement and, once policy is set, why delay implementation? It only takes one plane to come with a few travelers infected with a new strain to rekindle our pandemic. Further, given the unreliability of Chinese data, all such travelers should be required to have a negative test at the US entry point.
As has been said before: Science + Politics= Politics
About health insurance/insurers
HealthCare.gov Sign Ups Outpace Previous Years At Key Milestone An update FYI: “…Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace enrollment continues to outpace previous years, with nearly 11.5 million people selecting a health plan nationwide as of December 15, 2022 – a key milestone marking the deadline for coverage starting January 1, 2023. About 1.8 million more people have signed up for health insurance, or an 18% increase, from this time last year.”
These states tried an Obamacare public option. It hasn’t worked as planned. “The public option envisioned by liberals during the Obamacare debate was a government-run insurance plan that would compete in the private market. That’s not what Colorado, Nevada and Washington are doing. Instead, they are using their regulatory authority to influence what private insurance companies offer.
Democrats view this new public option concept as one tool among many — including reinsurance programs, state subsidies, rate review programs, and coverage expansions to undocumented immigrants — to expand health insurance access.
But costs have not come down enough yet to make a real dent in affordability or in the rates of uninsured and underinsured.”
About pharma
50 drugs on Mark Cuban's pharmacy with biggest cost reductions When evaluating articles like this one, you have to make sure you are comparing the same dosing (number of pills per dose), pill strength and number of pills per prescription, e.g., 30 or 90 day supplies.
That said, I looked up some of these drugs on both the Mark Cuban website and GoodRx. Two advantages were apparent using the former site. First, the drugs were cheaper than on GoodRx. Second, some of the drugs (see 1. and 4. on the article’s list, for examples) are only available from specialty pharmacies, not the retail outlets GoodRx promotes. So only the Mark Cuban site is available for a discount.
One more caveat: It may be cheapest, if you have insurance, to go through their contracted retail/specialty pharmacy.
Considering high cost and chronic drugs, it’s worth the time to investigate.
Misleading Ads Fueled Rapid Growth of Online Mental Health Companies An excellent piece of investigative journalism by The Wall Street Journal. Such ads aren’t limited to mental health, but span the healthcare field. Well worth reading, even if you have kept up with the Cerebral scandal, which goes back more than a year.
About the public’s health
Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report From the CDC: “Key Points
Seasonal influenza activity remains high but is declining in most areas.
Of influenza A viruses detected and subtyped during week 50, 77.8% were influenza A(H3N2) and 22.2% were influenza A(H1N1).
Seventeen influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported this week, for a total of 47 pediatric flu deaths reported so far this season.
CDC estimates that, so far this season, there have been at least 18 million illnesses, 190,000 hospitalizations, and 12,000 deaths from flu.
The cumulative hospitalization rate in the FluSurv-NET system was more than 6 times higher than the highest cumulative in-season hospitalization rate observed for week 50 during previous seasons going back to 2010-2011. However, this in-season rate is still lower than end-of-season hospitalization rates for all but 4 pre-COVID-19-pandemic seasons going back to 2010-11.”
FDA, Concerned About Safety, Explores Regulating CBD in Foods, Supplements “The Food and Drug Administration is studying whether legal cannabis is safe in food or supplements and plans to make recommendations for how to regulate the growing number of cannabis-derived products in the coming months, agency officials said.”