Elon Musk just became the world's first trillionaire. The typical American household would have to work more than 11 MILLION years to make Elon Musk's level of wealth. We need a wealth tax.

Your benefits broker is paid by the company whose bill you’re trying to cut. A commission from the carrier. An override bonus for volume. A trip to Cabo for “partnership.” You think they’re shopping the market for you. They earn more the higher your premium climbs. Ask your broker for every dollar they made off your plan last year. Watch the room go quiet.

Thank you @GovAbbottPress for pushing for needed accountability and reform. I look forward to working with you on this next session.

Government Watchdog Agency Finds that Every High-Risk Acute Stroke Diagnosis Submitted by Medicare Advantage Insurers in Audit Was Upcoded open.substack.com/pub/health… When does an audit that shows 100% of the sample led to falsely higher charges become fraud? How many false claims can the large insurance companies make against the Medicare Advantage program before they are excluded from all Federal Healthcare Programs? @DOJCrimDiv @DrOzCMS @realDonaldTrump @HEALTHCOSTtruth @HEALTHCOSTtruth @DutchRojas

The congressman here is a great friend to physicians, and we should all be thankful for what he does. So I’ll use the words of Thomas Sowell to explain why, economically, profits are a good thing: “It was not a free-market think tank, but Soviet economists, who pointed out that Soviet industry used far more inputs to produce a given output than did market economies.” It’s the profit incentive which keeps costs down. Yet as Sowell goes on, people think that, “if some company makes a million dollars in profit, this means that their products cost a million dollars more than they would have cost without profits. It never occurs to such people that these products might cost several million dollars more to produce if they were produced by enterprises operating without the incentives to be efficient created by the prospect of profits and the fear of losses.” Indeed, we see that non profit is not a solution in healthcare. “Non profit” hospitals act like revenue maximizing corporations. They use their tax exempt, non profit status to put competitors out of business and leverage that advantage to increase their prices. They don’t face the market discipline that a competitive industry would. Again, Sowell blesses us with his wisdom: “Unlike profit-seeking businesses, which must keep down costs in order to survive, many of the costs created by non- profit organizations fall entirely on others. Those others include not only their donors but also those who pay in many ways for the government-imposed restrictions created at the urging of non-profit crusaders.” So, no, I don’t think we should outlaw for profit companies. If anything, we need more of them!

Wednesday morning, California had counted an estimated 58 percent of the ballots. This morning, Friday, they are up to... 60 percent. Welcome to California: You’ll Have Election Results in a Few Weeks nationalreview.com/the-morni…

We do not have a healthcare cost problem. We have a price-secrecy problem. Cost is what something takes to make. Price is what someone decided you will never be allowed to see. Kill the secrecy and the cost handles itself.

You can get an itemized receipt for a $4 coffee but not for the $40,000 your hospital “estimates” your knee will cost. In what other industry do you sign the contract, get the service, and then find out the price by mail 6 weeks later? Friday question.

"Independent #pharmacies are closing at a rate of at least one per week—not because patients need fewer medications, not because competitors can provide care less expensively, but because vertically integrated PBMs have discovered they can systematically underpay independent pharmacies while overregulation limits our ability to adapt and expand services," said TPA Independent Pharmacy Academy Chair Crystal McEntire. "The path that we are on is unsustainable." McEntire was invited to testify today before the Texas Senate Health & Human Services Committee and Chair @LoisKolkhorst as it examined the role of PBMs in health care costs and monitored the implementation of SB 1236, passed last year. #PBMReform #txlege

Members of the Texas Legislature recognize the important role that physician-led hospitals can play in the healthcare system. @LoisKolkhorst, @RepJamesFrank and @TomOliverson have all mentioned physician-led hospitals in recent Texas hearings on affordability.

They updated the most legendary chart on twitter What stands out?

They updated the most legendary chart on twitter What stands out?

Employers are clamoring for workers who can do doctor-like work but who are trained faster and can cost them less. on.wsj.com/4wOliEy