Monday Round-Up

Our friends at Health Agents for America tipped us to this article offers a clue:

“Legislation limiting a provider’s ability to negotiate prices could ultimately result in reduced access to care for consumers“

One step forward….

■ Short Term Medical plans continue to be a popular ObamaPlan alternative, offering lower premiums and greater flexibility. But so-called Blue States seem to have a problem with choice. Our friends at Inside Health Policy pointed out this handy info:

“A federal judge in DC on Tuesday (Oct. 2) scheduled a hearing for Oct. 26 on stakeholders’ motion to immediately suspend the administration’s short-term health plan rule.“

Will be interesting to see the outcome.

■ Regular readers know about the zeroing-out of the (Evil) Mandate/Tax for the 2019 plan year (assuming there’s no drastic change due to next month’s mid-term’s). But what most of us likely didn’t know was just what burden that tax levied on those least able to afford it:

“The silver lining of the zeroing out of the individual mandate in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, though, is that a $43 billion tax — essentially a poverty tax — has been thrown into the dustbin of history.” https://t.co/uGiDJTIxFT

— Kris Held,MD (@kksheld) October 4, 2018

■ Finally, a bonus. Via email from the folks at All Health PR:

“Sperm Counts Drop Across U.S. – Except New York“

According to new research, the sperm counts of male residents of six major US cities went down over the past ten years, except for those in New York City.

Yeah, I don’t believe that, either.