Egg Donor’s SAT Score Matters, Diabetes Capital is China, ObamaCare Doctor Fees
What is an egg donor’s SAT worth? About $2,350 per hundred points.
For every person in the world with HIV there are three people in China with diabetes. Hat tip to Marginal Revolution.
ObamaCare will increase Medicaid doctor fees to Medicare levels for only two years (2013 and 2014), and then drop them back about 50%. (Anybody believe this will ever happen?)
This implies that the difference bewteen an egg from someone who scores only 600 (fairly dumb) and one from a woman who scores 1,600 (maxing out) is about $24,000.
I would guess that is also the amount you would have to pay these days to adopt (read buy) a baby.
I’m not sure what the significance of that is, however.
On Obama Care, my answer is “no.” I don’t believe there is any chance in the world that that will happen.
I would definitely pay more for smart eggs. But I don’t know if I would rely on an SAT score as my guide.
About the Medicaid levels: Does anyone think it’s interesting that rates drop as Obama leaves office? Or perhaps he will run for reelection by campaigning to “fix Medicare” again.
Glad to see the market for eggs works efficiently. Now I wonder if we can move on to organs — where lives might actually be saved.
On Medicaid, this is how they get the bill to score. They want to pay Medicare rates forever, of course. Hell, what they really want is for everybody to be in Medicare. So when CBO told them they were breaking the bank, they had to cut back and the end result is they could only fund what they realy wanted to do for two years.
At the end of the two years wht will happen? Will a hardhearted Congress sit by and watch doctor fees for poor people be cut in half? I don’t think so.
I’ve read the Medicare/Medicaid article several times. First, the title of the article is “Will Healthcare Reform Increase Medicaid Pay as Well as Enrollment”, not the text that appears above. It an interesting article seems to say the increases in Medicaid reimbursements rates is a good thing that will increase access. Second, I can’t find anywhere in the article where it says it increase reimbursement rates for two years and then cut them 50%, can someone please provide the quote or withdraw the claim.
I wonder if the formula holds for all degrees of beauty. Do prospective parents select for aesthetics (i.e. beauty) and then pay extra for intelligence?
artk,
I think that the title refers to the dateline March 23 paragraph that says that Medicaid reimbursement rates will rise to Medicare levels in 2013 and 2014 but only for family practitioners, internists, and pediatricians. As the increase would only be temporary, they will drop again in the absence of further legislation.
As for the 50%, this is difficult to determine as Medicaid reimbursement varies from state to state. However, you may be correct that the 50% decline is an overstatement. A Milliman study of reimbursement in Washington state found that Medicaid paid roughly 60% percent of the overall physician average, Medicare paid 89% and Commercial insurers paid 114%.
Percentages can be tricky, but this seems to suggest that raising Medicaid reimbursement to Medicare levels is an increase of roughly 50%. And that reducing to old levels would cut it by about a third because the calculation of the percentage decrease starts from a higher base.
This kind of government meddling in the price system (only increasing reimbursement for physician groups with political power and not providing any long-term certainty) will create a disastrous mess in the long run.
Linda sez a number of statements.
The bottom line is you pointed to an article claiming it said that reimbursement rates would go down 50% after two years, and the article said no such thing. If you refer to an article, say what it says, not what you would have written if you wrote it.
artk
The article references that Medicaid payments are only about 72% of Medicare. The Lewin Group has estimated Medicare physician payments are about 81% of private insurers’ physician payments. This means Medicaid only reimburses physicians less than 60% (.72*.81=.58) of the market rate.
This is why numerous studies have found Medicaid enrollees have a harder time finding a physician that will accept them as a patient; and have longer waits for a appointment when they have a physician.
Injecting an additional $8.3 billing into Medicaid reimbursement in 2013 and 2014 might encourage more primary care physicians to see Medicaid patients in 2013 and 2014.
But unless the higher reimbursements are extended, Medicaid enrollees will increasingly find it hard to see a doctor after 2014 – especially when Medicaid rolls swell by 16 million additional people.
Here is my take on the percentages.
If Medicaid rates are roughly two-thirds of Medicare rates, when you bring Medicaid up to Medicare levels the increase is 50%. However, when you reverse the process and bring Medicaid rates back down to their orignial level, the decrease is 33%.
No matter what the exact number, it’s going to be ugly.
there is a rising incidence of Diabetes these days and you can blame high sugar diet and a lifestyle that is low on physical activities.