I’m being 100% sincere about this. Between HIPAA and PRA and other clearance issues, publishing this stuff takes work.

Shine some light on great PUFs hidden in dark corners of govt websites.

It won’t win, but I nominate the under appreciated MLR PUF.

I’ve seen how low Medicare rates have pushed OTs out of Medicare (including my wife) and into private pay and commercial.

But a bigger issue is how folks can look at what’s going on in DC and assume a single payer system would be more stable than just fixing existing systems.

Good summary, and I know I’m biased but this bill has issues.

Why would you assume this will fix provider shortage issues? If student debt relief is a big share of compensation, and they’d manage costs by keeping rates low, why would providers see M4Am enrollees after paying off loans?

Do you use “Universal Healthcare” and “Single Payer” synonymously?

1332 waivers can lower state average premium.

State average premium is the measure used to scale risk adjustment transfers.

Using external funding to lower premium would cause risk adjustment to under compensate higher-risk issuers, balancing the overcompensation from 1332 reinsurance.

2/2

After sanding, painting, and wiring a Dactyl Manuform and soldering various minimalist split keyboards, my hands were hurting a lot and I just broke down and bought a glove80.

The Model F looks nostalgic, but I really can’t go back to unsplit keyboards. Where would I put my sandwich?

The average income of homeless people is something I’ve been meaning to look at for a while. I realize defining homeless is tricky, but by almost any definition, it’s a pretty bright line - and it would be good to know its relationship to the poverty line.

Also helpful to see - I was a bit more interested in the points he made about income v. inflation and how those were distributed, and how they can have a multiplier effect. Throw in a little geographic correlation and it does help explain some stuff, even if the true and headline rates are low.

Yeah, he is throwing shade, but the analysis is sound. It’s a good example of people making bad policy decisions because they trust average values for things that don’t follow a standard distribution.

Also, you can’t hate something that reminds people that GDP is kind of dumb.

Also, the explanation of silver loading was from 2018 and that is true in states that force metal ratios when setting rates. States that allow issuers to accrue risk transfer at a plan level basically have broad loading, where CSR costs are spread across all metal levels.

It was good, but not wonky enough. If someone brings up quality or network adequacy, I’d expect someone to bring up the ACA risk adjustment program. That is the only thing that ensures higher-quality coverage can be price-competitive.

The most American thing I’ve ever seen is a medical device that looks like a gun that you can shoot into someone’s eye to see if they have diabetes.

A diabetes detection gun.🦅

Yup.
To put it more politely, the 1980’s shift from sucrose to high fructose corn syrup correlates with our obesity crisis and lower life expectancy.

Solving our obesity crisis by taking drugs is the second most American thing I’ve ever imagined.

The zero-sum risk adjustment might play a role.

MEDPAC concerns about health assessments would raise benchmarks and Treasury costs but make plans that attract sick enrollees more affordable.

I’d be happy if they just looked at MEDPAC or OIG recommendations or even a measure of transfer accuracy.

You’d think so, but it’s actually the top right with the halo. She is a very good dog.

These were some of my favorites. Can you spot the one that isn’t AI?

I just found that Prof. Baker is on Blue Sky @notthattombaker.bsky.social

This art deco style portrait of Rocky is the only one that remotely looks like him. It really doesn’t want to give him his underbite or will give him breed-standard characteristics.

I haven’t been able to get a good version of Hazel at all.

It needs some work, but I’ve had the most success with Benny, probably because when he’s well groomed, he looks like a pretty standard poofy floof of a dog.