Check today’s Kaiser Health News
In other news:
Affordability solutions for the health of America From the BCBSA, this report cites the same sources of health costs, like markups by corporate hospital systems, hospital consolidation, big pharma's manipulation of patents, etc. Easier said than done with all the special interests. What is interesting is the estimates of how much each factor costs.
DOGE Is Searching for Wasteful Spending. It Isn’t Hard to Find.Instead of fraud, “Last year, more than 90% of improper payments were overpayments.” Medicare and Medicaid accounted for $62.8B and Medicare Advantage another $19.1B. By contrast, $2.76B is due to fraud.
Comment: Instead of firing people, fix the systems!
About health insurance/insurers
The states that would be the hardest hit by Medicaid cuts FYI
Prevalence of Chronic Medical Conditions Among Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare Beneficiaries:In this nationally representative study from 2015 to 2018, the prevalence of obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and chronic kidney disease was not higher among MA compared with FFS beneficiaries; however, the prevalence of diabetes was higher among MA beneficiaries.
Comment: Differences in the severity of specific medical conditions between groups could not be assessed and the dual eligibles were not separated. Still…with the majority of Medicare recipients in MA plans, it is time to eliminate the risk adjustment payments.
About the public’s health
US flu still high, COVID low but elevated in some areas, RSV declining, CDC says Latest stats on these infections.
2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update Fact Sheet:
Heart Disease, Stroke, and other Cardiovascular Diseases
• Cardiovascular disease (CVD), listed as the underlying cause of death, accounted for 941652 deaths in the United States in 2022.
• Heart disease and stroke claimed more lives in 2022 in the United States than all forms of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined.
• Between 2017 and 2020, 127.9 million US adults (48.6%) had some form of CVD. Between 2020 and 2021, direct and indirect costs of total CVD were $417.9 billion ($233.3 billion in direct costs and $184.6 billion in indirect costs/mortality).
• In 2017 to 2020 in the United States, 59.0% of non-Hispanic Black females and 58.9% of non-Hispanic Black males had some form of CVD. This race category had the highest prevalence of CVD.
About healthcare IT
Hackers Score $1,000 Per Healthcare Data Breach Vs. $5 Per Credit Card Theft Latest stats on how much these breaches cost. Healthcare is still at the top of the list as the most lucrative for hackers.
About healthcare personnel
The Health of US Primary Care: 2025 Scorecard Report — The Cost of Neglect An excellent summary of the issues around primary care shortages.
About health technology
FDA clears first direct-to-consumer celiac disease genetic test Considering how many people are cutting out gluten, this test may be a winner for the company; but will consumers act on the results if negative?
About healthcare finance
In $4.1B deal, Thermo Fisher buys 3M spinoff's filtration unit to beef up bioproduction: The buyout target is Solventum’s purification and filtration business, which generated about $1 billion in revenue last year and is expected to grow sales at mid- to high-single-digit percentages in the future, according to Thermo Fisher.