Sarah Schutz

The image is a line graph from KFF titled "The Medicaid Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM) Program Finds that Medicaid Pays Most Outlays Properly." It displays a comparison of Medicaid overall improper payment rate estimates, showing two lines: "Proper payments" in blue and "Improper payments" in green. The graph covers the years 2009 to 2025 on the x-axis, with a percentage scale from 0% to 100% on the y-axis. A note at the bottom clarifies that "improper payments" are not indicative of fraud.

Federal audits show most Medicaid payments (94% in 2025) meet requirements and that most improper payments are due to insufficient documentation.

More on Medicaid payment errors as well as upcoming changes and impacts: https://on.kff.org/3MAirwJ

Opinion | The Higher Price Tag on Medicare Advantage The government spends substantially more to cover a beneficiary under a Medicare Advantage plan than under a traditional plan.

Nice response to that absolutely unserious WSJ editorial. Notably from authors at @brookings.edu and AEI. Not only a "liberal" academic opinion that MA is overpaid (relative to FFS).
www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...

First tariffs weren’t a tax… now they’re not a regressive tax

Still ignoring basic economics 101. It’s the proportion of spending, rather than the total spending, that matters

“Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Trump RX dot gov is set to launch tonight and this is what you see when you try to go there now 😭

🚨NEW PAPER ALERT🚨
In new research, we look at how television DTC advertising for hospitals affects Medicare spending.

Using political advertising as an instrument, we find advertising expands patient volume and spending on inpatient care

Iconic

Economists when they find a suspicious looking instrument 👀👀

Dang you caught me 👀

Nathan Miller has been appointed Chief Economist of the Antitrust Division. A great appointment. I note with particular pleasure that before becoming an academic, he was a Staff Economist in the Antitrust Division. www.nathanhmiller.org

The head of CMS is in control of 1/4 of the federal budget…

Health economist studying pharmaceutical pricing and development, along with vertical integration here!

Post a picture you took (no description) to bring some zen to the timeline.

Huge, huge thanks to @shooshan.bsky.social who took on the work of compiling many more health economists than I had yet added to the Starter Pack. So many names I recognize for early health econ Twitter, and so many new voices that I don't but look forward to hearing from.
bsky.app/starter-pack...

State Regulators Know Health Insurance Directories Are Full of Wrong Information. They’re Doing Little to Fix It. State agencies say they’re holding insurers accountable for errors in provider directories. But ProPublica found that the actual actions taken so far do not match the regulators’ rhetoric.

State regulators know health insurance directories are full of wrong information. They’re doing little to fix it.

Onto bigger and brighter things!

Hi!!! Glad to be over here!

Belinda is such a light in the Econ world!

Opening this account for the first time in months, as a newly fresh PhD! Where are my Econ/health policy folks?

I’m not sure I’d recommend doing a half marathon during the job market, but I had fun!

Job market plus red October is a dangerous combo 😭

This Phillies fandom keeping you tied to the 8 PM playoff game is so real 🥲

This is so wholesome 😭

📈📉

Caption reads “emotional support alligator denied access to the Phillies game” with a photo of an older man holding an alligator on a leash

Because this is Philadelphia, I have seen this alligator in person before…

Never get tired of this dad joke via Cutler and Reber (1998) that I learned my first year of grad school 🤣

To my health economists, this is also known as the out-of-pocket price game #econsky

Do we all run marathons as our hobby to cope with the PhD? 🤣

Ok when I come to DC for work, is there an opportunity to meet Knox? 🥺