We have a jam-packed Full Measure for you this weekend!
It was two years ago that I first spoke with Rosemary Gibson, author of China Rx. She warned about our over-reliance on China for most of our prescription medicine. She really called that one! She's back this week to talk about the coronavirus impact.
Our cover story continues our ongoing look at solving the high cost of health care. Many experts say that getting everyone insured doesn't solve the problem, it just spread around the overinflated costs and ensures more price hikes.
With Congress not taking effective action, some states are trying on their own to control costs.
This week, I go to North Carolina where the state treasurer attacked the issue like by trying to force hospitals to disclose their mysterious pricing system. Sometimes they charge wildly different prices for the same medical procedure without explanation.
The treasurer wanted to standardize costs at a level with a guaranteed profit but in a controlled way that would save money.
He ended up going against the powerful hospital and medical industries. We'll tell you how all of that turned out as part of my cover story.
Joce Sterman is looking at a silly sounding way that your tax money is spent. Federal agencies seem to find ways odd ways to burn it on comic books and mascots promoting-- themselves.
And Scott Rasmussen digs into campaign 2020 polling after the 2016 debacle.
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Sharyl-
You are correct that insurer competition is irrelevant to cost control. The problem is lack of provider-to-provider competition for insured services. I am posting a link to an old blog on my site here:
http://intercase.org/2018/09/20/ideas-for-atul-gawande-and-the-amazonberkshirejp-morgan-venture/
...That explains the problem and a potential solution in more detail. The context of the post was to inform the (then) new Amazon/JP Morgan/Berkshire venture of some innovative things they could do. The content is still applicable, and you might find it informative.