Hoosier Econ reached out to Indiana health officials in regard to how much money has been spent combating heroin and HIV in Scott County. Here is what the Joint Information Center emailed me: Continue reading →
Tag / doctors
Medical Bills Pile Up on GoFundMe
Lately on social media I’ve seen a plethora of people touting “GoFundMe” accounts to raise money for one specific area, medical issues. I decided to look up numbers to see how often it’s used by people for this issue and the numbers are staggering:
According to data from GoFundMe, in 2011 there were about 8,000 campaigns on the site, generating a total of about $1.6 million dollars in donations. Compare that to 2014, where there were about 600,000 campaigns and close to $150 million dollars donated.
Credit WHOtv.com for the data.
Report: Shortage of 90,000 Physicians by 2025
In a report prepared for the Association of American Medical Colleges a grim outlook was given concerning physician supply in the United States. Here is what was found:
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Demand for physicians continues to grow faster than supply, leading to a projected shortfall of
between 46,100 and 90,400 physicians by 2025
The report can be read here. Much of the shortage will be from stronger demand of people getting on Obamacare.
Medicaid Will Eat Up State Budgets in Near Future
Obamacare for all intensive purposes is a gateway to universal healthcare via medicaid. When the ACA passed in 2010 it set up a medicaid program where the feds matched dollar for dollar states medicaid expansion. Here is a detailed explanation from the Chicago Tribune of an example in Illinois where estimated costs have ballooned from $500 Million to $2 Billion:
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Starting in 2017, Illinois and other states that also expanded their programs are required to start paying a small portion of the bill, rising to no more than 10 percent of the total tab. State health officials estimated in 2012 that Illinois’ portion of the expansion would cost $573 million from 2017 through 2020.
Original projections anticipated that 199,000 residents would sign up in 2014, potentially rising to no more than 342,000. State officials estimated a monthly, per person cost of $454, and revised that number upward to $882 in the document sent to in June to federal officials.
But through December, 540,877 joined Medicaid’s ranks. State officials said thousands more likely signed up through January.
Nationally, medicaid has exploded via Obamacare (9.7 million new enrollees) which means long term federal costs for ALL taxpayers.
Employment Opportunity: Checking Poop
Via Washington Times –
The federal government is looking for doctors to help monitor suspected smugglers’ bowel movements at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, in a solicitation that sounds like it could be something out of the Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” program.
Doctors must be available round-the-clock in case CBP officers suspect they have a “swallower,” which is what internal drug smugglers are known as. The doctors are charged with X-raying or otherwise examining suspects’ body cavities, and if drugs are found, the work order says “the detainee may be held for a monitored bowel movement (MBM) to wait the passage of the contraband material.”
“CBP regularly intercepts individuals who ingest wrapped packets of illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, ecstasy, marijuana or hashish to transport them,” the agency said. “CBP officers apply their keen knowledge, expertise and intelligence to detect and intercept suspected body cavity concealers at our nation’s ports of entry.”
CBP identified 176 “body cavity concealment incidents” in 2014, which was down from 187 the previous year.
You can read the rest here.
How Much Do Consumers Pay to Healthcare Providers?
Just Facts Daily posed a question to readers regarding healthcare payments. Here is the question and answer:
What portion of all healthcare spending in the U.S. is directly paid by consumers to healthcare providers (i.e., not indirectly paid through middlemen like insurance companies or governments)?
Less than 25%
In 2009, consumers directly paid for 12% of all healthcare spending in the U.S., as compared to 48% in 1960. This trend has been driven by government policies and is a major factor in the rise of healthcare spending, because it reduces consumers’ incentive to shop for the best value.
Walmart Competing Against Doctor Offices
Walmart is now opening clinics to compete in the ever changing healthcare landscape. This from Marketwatch:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pushed down prices for some generic prescription drugs to just $4 eight years ago, setting a new industry standard. Now it is trying to do the same for seeing a doctor.
On Friday, a Walmart Care Clinic opened in Dalton, Ga., six months after Walmart U.S., the retailer’s biggest unit, entered the business of providing primary health care. It now operates a dozen clinics in rural Texas, South Carolina and Georgia and has increased its target for openings this year to 17.
Here is a list of pricing for services offered:
An office visit costs $40, which Walmart U.S. says is about half the industry standard, and just $4 for Walmart U.S. employees and family members with the company’s insurance. A pregnancy test costs just $3, and a cholesterol test $8. A typical retail clinic offers acute care only. But a Walmart Care Clinic also treats chronic conditions such as diabetes. (Walmart U.S. also leases space in its stores to 94 clinics owned by others that set their own pricing.)
Hoosier Econ 