The Daily Valet. - 10/16/23, Monday
✔️ A Sad New Reality
Monday, October 16th Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
I wish I could book a plane ticket without the fear that somewhere, somehow, I could get it for a little bit cheaper.
Today’s Big Story
The New Reality of Medical Debt
Bankruptcy, crowdfunding or just skipping medical treatment altogether
It's a strange, paradoxical reality. Despite over 90% of the United States population having some form of health insurance, medical debt remains a persistent problem. And the fear surrounding what an accident or illness might cost you is so real that many people will not go to the doctor or skip out on suggested treatments because the cost could ruin them—even with insurance.A recent Census Bureau analysis on medical debt at the household level found around 17% of U.S. households owed some medical debt and more than 23 million people (nearly 1 in 10 adults) owe significant medical debt. The latest figures suggest Americans owe at least $195 billion in medical debt. One of those Americans was the decorated Olympic gymnast, Mary Lou Retton. Hospitalized with a rare form of pneumonia, Retton (who is currently uninsured) was saddled with a mountain of bills. So her family did what countless others have done before them: turned to crowdfunding to cover the mounting costs. They blew past their initial fundraising goal and CNN reports that Retton is now “making remarkable progress.”She's lucky. And not just in terms of her health. According to the New York Times, most patients do not meet their fund-raising goals. And about 16% of the time, these crowdfunding campaigns generate no donations at all. And it should come as no surprise that the United States has the highest healthcare prices in the world. About half of Americans report difficulty paying their medical bills, according to a 2022 Kaiser Family Foundation survey. In search of help, a quarter of a million Americans start crowdfunding campaigns to pay medical bills every year.And inflation isn't helping. Health News reports that 67% of Americans reported difficulty paying medical bills due to inflation, compared with 57% in 2022. Nearly one-third (32%) said their medical bills were in collections—and another 12% reported being unsure if their medical bills had been sent to collectors. What's worse, several surveys have found that Americans are now postponing or skipping treatment because of final price uncertainty.
FYI:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced in September that it will begin making new rules to eliminate medical bills from credit reports.
U.S. Warns Iran Against Escalating Israel-Hamas War
Diplomats Race to Ease Gaza Crisis Amid Fears of war Spreading into a larger regional Conflict
Diplomats struggled to ease an escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and get foreigners out of the blockaded enclave as intensifying clashes along Israel's border with Lebanon and Israeli airstrikes inside Syria stoked fears of a wider conflict in the region. On Sunday, Israel resumed the water supply to the southern Gaza Strip after strong pressure from the Biden administration, two Israeli officials told the Jerusalem Post.Officials say the Biden administration pressed the Israeli government in the last 48 hours to resume the water supply, especially to the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The American government has also held back-channel talks with Iran to warn the Islamic republic against escalating the war into a broader regional conflict. Western and Arab diplomats fear the war could inflame the region and are particularly concerned that it could draw in Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, and other militants who are also supported by Tehran.Though Iran and Israel have been in conflict since the 1979 Iranian revolution, there has never been an outright war between the two. But over the weekend, Iran sent a message to Israel via the UN that warned against ground invasion in Gaza—something that seems all but imminent. Meanwhile, the State Department now says that at least 30 U.S. citizens have been killed in the recent violence between Hamas and Israel, and at least 13 are unaccounted for.
War of Words:
The Israel-Hamas conversation is roiling U.S. campuses. Students on each side say colleges aren’t doing enough.
Book the Plane Ticket. Don’t Sweat It.
New research shows why hunting for the cheapest plane ticket is a waste of your time
Let's face it: Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, the airline industry has been unpredictable, to say the least. From the glut of canceled flights over the past year to changing travel restrictions, travelers haven't felt too confident flying the friendly skies. In fact, new research from Expedia found air travel is a leading cause of stress for the majority of Americans, who find it more daunting than filing taxes or visiting the dentist.Of course, a lot of the stress comes from trying to score the best price for your flight—no one wants to overpay for a seat you could've got for less, right? Airline prices rose 22% during the last year, so travelers have to be savvy to get the best deal. This is why there are now multiple websites and apps dedicated solely to finding passengers cheaper flights than what they may find when searching directly on an airline's official site.Which is interesting, because a group of researchers from various colleges came together and found that there is no one weird trick for getting cheaper flights. In fact, airlines are probably leaving money on the table by not having a better system for pricing flights. As one profressor told Physics.org, “Despite how it may appear when looking for flights, airlines have a fixed and relatively small number of prices that they assign to tickets on each flight. Unlike other consumer sectors, where pricing can be adjusted and targeted, airlines operate with large gaps between each possible price—sometimes upwards of $100. They may sell the first 30 economy tickets at the lowest price, and then the next 30 tickets at the next possible price, and so on.” But, I guess the good news is that there's no special hack we're missing out on ... If these professors couldn't figure it out, we probably can't either.
FYI:
Expedia says that ticket prices should be cheaper in 2024, although only by around 3 percent.
The Next Big Weight-Loss Drug
Growing evidence suggests that it will be a huge leap forward from Ozempic
Move over Ozempic and Wegovy. There's even more evidence that tirzepatide, another medication originally designed to treat diabetes, may help people lose a lot of weight — even more so than other popular medications that have been so popular, that pharmacies are having problems keeping them in stock.Patients taking tirzepatide lost more weight than with semaglutide or Ozempic. With once-weekly injections, the drug—currently only available to diabetes patients under the brand name Mounjaro—helped people lose more than 24% of their body weight, on average, by the end of the 84-week trial, according to new research.The results, which were presented Sunday at a medical conference, confirm that the drug made by Eli Lilly & Co. has the potential to be one of the most powerful medical treatments for obesity to date, outside experts said. How's it different than the others? Tirzepatide targets two hormones that kick in after people eat to regulate appetite and the feeling of fullness communicated between the gut and the brain. Semaglutide, the drug used in Ozempic and Wegovy, only targets one of those hormones.
Meanwhile:
The FDA last week warned online vendors to stop selling unapproved weight-loss drugs.
In Other News
They could help the Speaker Pro Tempore pass critical legislation.
The ‘Ring of Fire’ Eclipse Brought Cheers and Shouts of Joy As It Moved Across the Americas This Weekend
Have you heard about ...
Worth a Listen
The ‘You’re Wrong About’ podcast
It's not a new one, but You're Wrong About does a lot more work than the bulk of what we'll call “history retelling” podcasts out there. They take apart and reinterpret misunderstood events and phenomena from pop culture. As well as the sheer range of stuff hosts Sarah Marshall and Mike Hobbes get through—from Beanie Babies to where preppy style came from to medieval torture methods—what sets this show apart is the empathetic and earnest way that stories are retold.
Listen:
Shopping
What We’re Buying
A rugged collaboration
What's old is new again. For Buck Mason's first collaboration, the brand has partnered with the venerable American outerwear outfitter, Eddie Bauer. With the goal of recontextualizing a selection of Eddie Bauer's early innovations, the team at Buck Mason chose to reissue some sought-after archival pieces. They updated the designs only minimally, bringing them into the 21st century with modern technical innovations, while recreating the lived-in feel and vintage references, along with making intentional improvements for better fit and overall wearability. The end result is like the perfect customized vintage piece. And while the CPO jacket ($225) is our favorite, the whole line is definitely worth checking out.
Want more?
The five stylish items you should be buying this week.
Morning Motto
Manage your time.
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