I expect a 10 percent jump in health care services. More for knock-on impacts.
Companies Jacking Up Prices Again
Healthcare costs is one reason why. The other is tariffs.
The Wall Street Journal notes The Break Is Over. Companies Are Jacking Up Prices Again.
Some companies have pointed a finger at tariffs for their increases, while others, especially small businesses, also blame higher wages and hefty health-insurance costs that firms said they can’t absorb or share with suppliers.
Structural Systems Repair Group, a Cincinnati-based construction company, is taking a 10% to 15% increase in prices that will show up in new contracts this year.
SSRG typically absorbs increases in materials costs totaling 5% or less, but tariffs pushed steel prices up by 10% last year, said Bryan Erickson, the company’s president. SSRG’s healthcare costs for its 115 employees increased by a similar amount, he said.
“It’s not sustainable for us to tolerate that kind of increase without some sort of concession from our customers,” said Erickson, whose company adapts and maintains parking garages, stadiums and other structures.
Atomic Object, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based digital software consultant, raised the hourly rate it charges its customers to $200 this year, after boosting rates to $195 an hour from $180 an hour at the end of 2024.
The company’s health-insurance premiums jumped by 14% this year after climbing by 12% in 2025, and now equal nearly 10% of revenue, up from about 5% three years ago.
There were two three key ideas in the article. One of them is indirect. I have been talking about one of the ideas repeatedly.
Three Key Ideas
- Tariff-Related Price Hikes Will Hit in 2026
- Medical Care Costs Rising for Everyone
- Companies Hiking Prices to Offset Healthcare
I have discussed rising medical care costs for everyone, point number 2, multiple times. The knock-on impact of point 2 is point number 3, which I did not discuss.
The article did not discuss point number 2.
The net impact of these ideas is greater than the article projected or that I mentioned previously for point two alone.
Impact on CPI and PCE
- The impact of points 1 and 3 will be immediate on both the CPI and PCE
- The impact of point 2 will be immediate on the PCE but spread out over a year on the PCE.
- Medical care services is about 17 percent of the PCE but only 7 percent of the CPI.
Business Group Health Care Services
Business Group on Health Survey projects 9% Health Care Cost Increase for 2026
Employers predict that health care cost trend increases for 2026 will come in at a median of 9%, offset to 7.6% with plan design changes. These somber forecasts come as more employees use GLP-1s for obesity, receive cancer diagnoses and use mental health services, the survey showed. On a compounded basis, costs in 2026 are likely to be 62% higher than 2017 levels.
“In this challenging environment, employers remain firmly committed to an ongoing investment in employee health and well-being,” said Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of Business Group on Health. “Yet they will need to make bold and strategic moves to contain costs, sometimes disrupting health care models along the way.”
If the BLS and BEA adjust for plan changes (reduced coverage), the corporate plans will average 9 percent higher.
If the BLS and BEA cheat, the hike will be 7.6 percent or so. That projection was made in August.
Employers Project 10% Jump in Health Care Costs for 2026
SHRM reports Employers Project 10% Jump in Health Care Costs for 2026
Driven by catastrophic claims and costly specialty and prescription drugs including popular GLP-1 injectable medications, employers are bracing for a double-digit increase in health care costs next year.
Organizations are projecting a 10% hike in health care costs in 2026, according to new data from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP), a nonprofit organization based in Brookfield, Wis., with 31,000 employer members. The increase in expenses is up from the 8% rise employers projected for 2025 and in line with other recent estimates for health care costs from benefits and employer organizations.
Health care costs are consistently a pain point for employers, but the figures show an even steeper trajectory for costs next year, indicating that organizations may turn to cost-sharing and other strategies in an effort to help.
“Uncertainty around future trends in employer costs remains high, particularly as it relates to rising health care costs,” said Andrea Medici, labor economist at SHRM. “The interplay between slowing wage growth and rising health care expenses presents a nuanced outlook for employers.”
Cost-sharing is the top strategy employers are turning to, according to IFEBP, with 27% of employers saying that they are passing more costs to employees by raising deductibles, co-pays, and premiums for their workers. That’s up from 21% from employers surveyed last year.
IFEBP further noted that, to hold down costs, employers are also looking at plan design initiatives such as conducting dependent eligibility audits and offering high-deductible health plans (cited by 17% of employers, up from 15% last year), and implementing purchasing or provider initiatives such as telemedicine, price transparency tools, and centers of excellence (17%, up from 9% last year)
Small Business Health Insurance Premiums Could Rise 11% in 2026
Health System Tracker explains How much and why premiums are going up for small businesses in 2026
For 2026, the median proposed premium increase among 318 small group insurers across all 50 states and the District of Columbia is 11%. A more detailed review of filings from 16 states and D.C. shows that insurers cite rising healthcare costs as a primary driver of premium increases. Other contributing factors include higher prescription drug costs and utilization, rising labor expenses, and overall economic inflation. Some insurers also note declining enrollment and worsening risk pool morbidity as factors leading to higher projected costs next year.
Why Are Premiums Going Up?
- Healthcare Costs Are Rising
Insurers note that the costs of services such as hospitalizations, physician care, and prescription drugs continue to rise annually, which prompts premium adjustments to keep pace with increased expenditures. For 2026, insurers commonly estimate the underlying increase in the cost of healthcare (medical trend, which is a function of price and utilization) is about 9%.- Inflation & Labor Shortages
Some insurers cite broader economic factors, including general inflation and labor shortage, as contributing to increased provider reimbursement rates, which in turn place additional financial pressure on insurers and drive up premiums. A handful of insurers have also pointed to increased provider consolidation as a factor reducing market efficiency and raising reimbursement rates.- Tariffs on Medical Supplies
Some insurers also highlight the potential impact of tariffs, which can raise the cost of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. When acknowledging the possibility of tariff-driven cost increases, some insurers chose to factor that uncertainty into their rates, while others did not. Of the 96 insurers with filings reviewed in more detail, 23 mentioned the potential impact of tariffs in their rate setting.- High-Cost Medications
Consistent with premium changes in the individual market, the increasing cost, prevalence, and utilization of GLP-1s and other specialty drugs are frequently mentioned by insurers in justifying proposed rate increases. 27 insurers of the 96 insurer filings reviewed in greater detail mentioned the impact of GLP-1s on premiums. To mitigate their upward pressure on premiums, some insurers have decided to exclude coverage of GLP-1s for weight loss purposes for 2026.- Market Instability
Recent volatility in the small group market has been caused by decreases in enrollment for small group plans and a simultaneous increase in relative costs for the remaining risk pool. Insurers point to several pressures destabilizing the ACA small group market through enrollment declines and worsening risk pool health, including competition from relatively lower-cost individual and self-insured options, and state stop-loss rules that can make self-insurance a more attractive alternative for small employers.
Costs employers pass on to employees will immediately be picked up by the PCE, but will be spread out for the CPI.
And the CPI will ignore employer costs totally.
Decreased coverage (worse plans than before) should be picked up by the BEA and BLS as a negative hedonic adjustment. However, this is one key spot for for easy manipulation.
Obamacare Premiums
Peterson KFF reports Higher Premium Payments or Higher Deductibles: The Tradeoffs ACA Enrollees Face
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits expired on January 1st, 2026, causing premium payments to increase significantly for many Americans enrolled in ACA exchange plans. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that a permanent extension of the enhanced tax credits would increase the number of people with health insurance by 3.8 million in 2035. Without the extension, the CBO anticipated insurers on the individual market would raise rates with the expectation that some healthier people would drop coverage rather than pay a significantly higher monthly amount. The total number of people who have enrolled in the ACA Marketplaces and paid for at minimum one month of coverage won’t be available until the summer of 2026.
To keep the same plan as last year, KFF estimates that enrollees’ contributions to their premium payments will increase by an average of 114%, net of premium tax credits. According to a recent KFF poll, most Marketplace enrollees are expected to maintain some form of health insurance coverage in spite of rising premiums payments and, so far, available data suggests that signups remain strong. However, 70% of respondents stated that, if premium payments for their current coverage doubled, they would likely look for a different Marketplace plan with a lower premium and higher out-of-pocket expenses. Enrollees could generally find a less expensive premium by switching to a lower metal tier plan with a higher deductible. This brief explains the tradeoffs that exist when individuals switch between silver and bronze plans.
Once again we have a potential for manipulation by the BLS and BEA.
Paying the same for less coverage is a cost increase. It’s wait-and- see if the BLS and BEA play any games.
If so, we may not even know unless there is a whistle blower.
Medicare Premiums
The Center for Retirement Research reports Higher Medicare Premiums Will Eat Up More than 25% of Social Security’s COLA
In November, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that the Part B premium will rise from $185 in 2025 to $202.90 per month in 2026. This 10-percent increase means that the base premium will exceed $2,400 next year. Moreover, Part B premiums as a share of annual Social Security benefits – defined as the benefit for the retired workers with average pre-retirement earnings – will reach an all-time high of 9.4 percent (see Figure 1). The increase in 2026 will also eat up over a quarter of Social Security’s 2.8-percent cost-of-living adjustment.
Of course, Part B premiums are not the only healthcare-related retiree costs. Under Part A, which covers inpatient hospital care and is financed primarily by the payroll tax, beneficiaries will face a deductible of $1,736 in 2026. Medicare Part B beneficiaries, in addition to the monthly premium discussed above, will face a deductible of $283. Finally, in Part D, which covers drugs, beneficiaries face another premium, which varies by plan, and an income-related premium, which is deducted directly from their Social Security benefit. Because Medicare’s out-of-pocket costs can be quite high, many enrollees buy supplemental insurance, which can involve yet additional premiums.
Ignoring these large omissions from Medicare coverage, it is still interesting to know how much Social Security income retirees have for other expenditures after paying their medical costs. My colleagues made this type of calculation using data from the 2018 Health and Retirement Study. Figure 2 presents a rough update of their findings to account for the fact that the Part B premium as a percentage of the average Social Security benefit will be 9.4 percent in 2026 compared to 8.3 percent in 2018. While this ad hoc adjustment will probably make the authors cringe, the results show that the share of Social Security income remaining after out-of-pocket medical spending is 71 percent for the median beneficiary. For those at the 25th percentile in terms of Social Security income, the share remaining for non-medical expenditures is only 52 percent, and for those at the 75th percentile in the distribution, the remaining share is 81 percent.
Health Care Increase Synopsis
- Medicare: 10 Percent Increase (PCE immediate, CPI spread out)
- Corporate Increase 9.6 percent, if honest. If not, perhaps 7.6 percent. (PCE Only, No CPI Impact)
- Obamacare: 114 percent if honest. But again, there is the possibility the BLS and BEA ignore reduced coverage (PCE immediate, CPI spread out)
I stick with a 10-12 percent Health Care Services increase, mostly hitting at once in the PCE and spread out over a year or more in the CPI.
At a PCE weight of 17 percent, a 10 percent increase would have an immediate 1.7 percentage point impact.
I did not factor in potentially big knock-on inflation impacts of companies hiking prices of goods and services to offset the increased cost of medical care benefits.
Related Posts
January 14, 2026: The Fed Has Missed Its Inflation Target on Ten Different Measures
The Atlanta Fed tracks various inflation targets. Let’s have a look.
January 21, 2026: Expect a Big Divergence This Year Between CPI and PCE Inflation
Rent and Healthcare go different ways in 2026. Plus there are huge timing issues.
February 16, 2026: The Tariff Delay Is Now Over, Companies Start Hiking Prices Again
Hello consumers, expect higher prices in the high single digits on many items.
There are 24 million people on ACA, and a majority of them are in Republican states.
For Obamacare discussion, please see my December 7, 2025 post How Much Will 4.5 Million Florida Residents Pay for Obamacare in 2026?
Here’s some interesting health care math on Obamacare in Florida.
What About Overall Health Care Costs?
Good question. I addressed that issue on December 8, 2025 in Health Care Inflation Bomb Makes the Fed’s 2 Percent Target Almost Impossible
Let’s discuss 2026 health care premiums and what they mean to the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.
I project increases in health care will add 1.4 to 1.6 percentage points to headline PCE inflation before food, energy, shelter, or tariffs move prices at all.
And it’s the PCE, not the CPI that will have the Fed’s attention.
From the look of it, John D Rockefeller sought to create an new market for oil based products, pharmaceuticals. He set about changing the whole medical system at the time. He wasn’t even a doctor. But he had a lot of money with which to influence medical outcomes. Bill Gates isn’t a doctor, but he has a lot of money with which to influence medical outcomes.
The medical industry is Big Business, gobbling up a substantial portion of GDP. How much is unnecessary? As a child i didn’t have doctor wellness visits and as an adult, have never had an annual exam by a physician. I read that medical schools barely teach anything on nutrition and see that Youtube has videos by various doctors who now reject the orthodoxy they were taught in medical school. We were all taught that animal fat was bad. Turned out it was sugar and seed oils, causing inflammation.
Professional medical associations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, are sponsored by various pharmaceutical companies, which create a financial conflict of interest, detrimental to their pediatric patients. Pharmaceutical companies themselves have been heavily fined. At the same time, public health agencies have been regulatory captured by them, through fees and royalties paid to them. They are a large part of the regulators budgets.
In a recent Youtube video interview this week, Louis Gave of Gavekal cited a comparison study between Tesla’s Shanghai factory and its Fremont, California factory. The total labor costs in Shanghai were less than the medical costs in Fremont.
trumpflation is alive and well, not missing a single area of today’s lives.
Here’s one way to control costs by reducing the number of surgeons needed:
Sham knee surgery refers to a placebo-controlled surgical procedure used in clinical trials to determine the true effectiveness of a real surgical intervention.
In these trials, patients undergo a simulated operation that mimics the real procedure—such as making incisions, using surgical instruments, administering anesthesia, and creating the sounds of surgery—but without performing the actual therapeutic intervention (e.g., removing damaged meniscus or cleaning joint debris).
Key findings from major studies show that patients receiving sham knee surgery reported similar improvements in pain and function as those who underwent real arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis.
This suggests that the benefits observed in real surgery may be largely due to the placebo effect, wound healing, and patient expectations rather than the specific surgical intervention itself.
Despite these findings, millions of arthroscopic knee surgeries are still performed annually in the U.S. and UK, often without strong evidence of efficacy.
Critically, sham surgery is not inherently deceptive—many trials now use honest placebo designs, where patients are informed they may receive a sham procedure, yet still experience significant improvement. The procedure is considered less risky than real surgery, with lower infection rates and fewer complications
Can you provide a link to the study?
https://www.oarsijournal.com/article/S1063-4584(23)00003-1/fulltext
The study doesn’t surprise me because it is on older patients with degenerative conditions, not acute trauma. For these patients nothing should be done if there is no complaint and if there is a symptom then physical therapy should be done first. Surgery should be the last resort and patients should be particularly wary of any surgeons that push surgery. Always get a second opinion from someone without a vested interest in the decision to have surgery.
5 pts on health care costs?? how ’bout this ONE: 3(only) PBM’s owned by CVS/WG/Scripto or whatever: with yearly funds on EACH of $50,000,000 per EACH employee for EACH PBM!!!! and by each I mean beginning w/each CEO down to the guy who cleans up the place after hours. How’s that health care cost for starters?? and the 3 PBM’s have in the past several years built 3 huge office buildings in 3 EU states.
“But the Dow is at 50,000.”
All competition has been wrung out of the health care and health insurance systems by government edict, so of course the intended consequence of prices rising rapidly is going as planned. The US spends 17% of GDP on health care, more than any other country in the world. Welcome to solutions from Washington DC.
The mighty med/pharma/insuro/edu monopoly cartels will rob the most and take theirs first with no constraints. They have the deepest research in how to prolong illness, drugs that maintain without curing, and so much more. They have minions of mal-educated drones to carry out the misservice without questions. .
How long until people dying for lack of medical care become Luigis? Nothing to lose, and blame is pretty easy to lay.
It will be an indictment of our society and its inability to care for all of us when it happens, and it’s just a matter of time. Just like the debt clock, the alarm WILL go off, but nobody knows the lead time.
With Ai breathing down employee’s necks the last thing they need is increased healthcare costs tilting the keep/replace balance towards the replace side.
Well Mish, deporting 40 million illegal aliens an ending cosmetic transgender surgeries for minors, medicare seniors, and the ACA folks should save money and reduce the homicide rate among the bad bunny crime pays set. Maybe the writers at the Atlantic and SPLC and Rolling Stoned along with Code Pink can learn how to plant and pick strawberries since AI will be programing binary machine code for Hollywood movies and those further adventures in “political science,” a contradiction in terms like “war crimes.”
Doubt it helps fat red staters stay out of the cardiac units
The problem with obesity is that it doesn’t kill them before they reproduce, so there’s no selection pressure.
Another brand new reasonable Nazi, spewing the talking points of the day.
Nobody with any sense is buying your hysterical bullshit anymore. Maybe you’d have better luck on facebook.
“Nazi”
A spewed talking point, as in, “everybody i don’t like, is a Nazi.”
You’re fluent in ad hominem. Imagine if you could make intellectual points with half the panache as your curated set of personal insults, you’d be near genius.
PCE is seasonally adjusted. Health insurance premium increases for the most part take affect in January every year. It gets adjusted.
Yes – and we do not see January PCE until March
great analysis mish. thanks. staglation it is. gonna make asset prices tumble like r/e and stocks and services as important as doctoring……be brutally expensive. plus the empire is crumbling. fasten seat belts. i have a great read for times like this. essays in idleness. 800 year old japanese book on very tumultuous times…….worth the fun read. only read a page a day. it’s deep. will help mental health
Underscores the importance of maintaining your health. I’m 66 and do not need BP meds, statins, blood thinners, Ozempic etc. At some point, Medicare/Medicaid will be unsustainable. What are people on Ozempic ($800/month) going to do when the subsidies go away? Or all of those on psychiatric meds?
Seems like creating something unaffordable for your Health, is probably something you don’t actually require.
I know a lot of these diet shots if you will, can work, I have a family member on one, but very expensive, and we don’t yet know the ramifications if any.
If you’re able to stay on a self induced diet, but only after speaking with a nutritionist first obviously. Then your cost are Zero, but then you are also responsible for your actions, and can’t just take a pill, and not alter your habits. It’s the proper way if possible, for cost and % of successes. As you get going along, it gets easier and easier, and before you know it, it’s simply your way of like. Not bad!
They will replace Ozempic with generic’s.
Fun fact – Ozempic was discovered in Canada but the researchers had no idea what they had and let it go to a foreign country for next to nothing (Danish company) who now makes a fortune off of it.
In reality it should cost next to nothing since the researchers who discovered it weren’t a pharma company and the formula isn’t ‘secret’ so it could be made for pennies.
Almost all pharma medications are discovered by researchers in educational institutions paid for with federal grants. Big Pharma’s role is in manufacturing, advertising and distribution. A simple change in federal law which says that the intellectual property ownership of anything discovered with federal funding is the property of the federal government would solve all problems. Of course, that’s a no go since Congress needs it bribes.
From what I’ve seen, once you start on pills, you just end up taking more and more pills..
Not many exceptions to the rule (e.g. Prednisone)
Not for me. I retired, lost 20 pounds (regular exercise, better dietary choices) and went from 4 to 2.
Maybe they “go Luigi” as suggested above. When you have nothing left, why not get your revenge on those who took it all away? At least that will be the shooter’s mentality.
Sure if you actually the story the Media is telling you
I refuse to pay the health insurance juntas and I haven’t for many years. I’m really surprised more people haven’t stopped paying.
At this point I won’t even go to a hospital unless I get shot or something.
I sense you are healthy, and that would be a reason why. I am too, and go to my Dr. 2X per year. I have Family however that does not apply to. A Family Plan in Health is better, so we go that route. We have an excellent HC plan too, so that helps.
The system is really only good for acute care and the technical improvements in surgery. Other than that it’s a cash cow for the drug companies. And after Covid, I don’t trust them at all.
Amen!!!!! Even before Covid…their pushing of cholesterol meds and SSRIs and 76! childhood vaccines will probably be proven in the fullness of time to have been net detrimental. Their guilds (AAP, AMA) could hardly be more corrupt.
Some claim they make medicines with side effects, so as to force the need for more medication, and this wheel your on, only stops, when the medication stops… You may notice ALL the potential side effects. I am sure many get them, and there are drugs for all of them of course, in stock and readily available.
Stu, I don’t see them as that nefarious. It is difficult to make a drug that changes something about the body without changing other things not targeted. Well intended physicians have a difficult time second-guessing the incredibly complex intelligence of the human body. And unfortunately, they focus on the intended outcome and not the side effects. “We only see what we aim at.”
But the result ends up much in line with your supposition.
Still I would clarify: I don’t think individual caregivers are bad. They are incentivized to be bad by an absolutely fascist/corporatist medical industrial complex, hardly better than full socialized medicine.
I hope you’re right, but Covid Vax was it for trust in Government demanded medicines needed.
They just seem to have so many side effects clearly defined, as if they were the result in testing, but decided to leave it that way for the product, as it would have been too expensive to fix, and no guarantee… so they tell you what you might get, and have something to help you out with that. Again, I would like to think your correct in your thoughts.
It’s tough to get Trust back, once gone. I agree with you, and vaccines for example, will never get shot into my body again, unless by force.
I take the flu and covid shots every year. Haven’t been sick in 4 years.
And when you need to go and the bill is 150K, are you going to pay up or are you going to cry poverty and try to socialize the loss following the standard corp/republican playbook?
Medical debt doesn’t go on the credit report anymore so why not let it ride?
– I expect a 10 percent jump in health care services. More for knock-on impacts.
> How are people going to pay for it? Many can’t borrow, have charged up to their C/C limits, no free Covid money coming, Elderly are broke, and most have helped out already, and the well is now dry.
>> While this healthcare services jump in cost, isn’t everything, and everyone else looking to claw back some profit? The more that do, will show us how it’s a fools mission. Can’t get blood from a stone as they say…
>>> Also, what about other charges going through the roof already? My last electricity bill had 3X the charge “For Delivery” than the actual Electricity. My Property Taxes nearly doubled, and my water bill went up immensely with monitors now on my usage. I’m ok with that, but I found out, and wasn’t told. Raising cost will be futile for all but necessity items for most people, as the money just isn’t there, and bills are overdue already.
Their keto diets will kill them before they get old.
A lot of those fad food diets, if that is one, are a lot like WW was, but not organized as such, so hold no value, but marketing. My Dad was in WW for decades and always maintained a fairly healthy diet, and nearly 90 now, so it must have helped a bit. I just eat appropriately and consistently and my health seems to be OK with it. I also exercise weekly in a group setting, as it increases my chance of going, and I rarely miss as a result.
Expect large profits from the insurance companies, drug companies and medical supply companies.
United Healthcare, Lilly, Perrigo, Stryker, McKesson and others come to mind.
My insurance is up hugely and drug costs are way up under the new insurance scheme. Inflation is gaining momentum for sure and companies can blame tariffs.
As long as there is a scapegoat, prices will rise.
Good time to be buying the miners this week as well.
AEM is crushing it and growing reserves at a surprising rate. They mined 3.5 million ounces and increased proven and probable reserves by 2.5% plus inferred by 18%. Production to rise by 20-30% by 2030.
For a big mining company, that is an accomplishment
We are fed by a food industry that pays no attention to health, and treated by a health industry that pays no attention to food.
That’s billboard material right there Frosty!!!
bingo
We’re livestock.
Re United Healthcare: UNH and CNC are down pretty hard since this summer when the latter announced their patients were sicker than they had anticipated. Of course, Obamacare married them to the government to increase the fascistic nature of our medical care collectivization, so who knows?
thanks again for actionable ideas.
We spend way more and we are way sicker. What is our current spend on “Health Care” as a percentage of GDP…18%? I’ve read it was somewhere around 4-5% when I was born. 4-5% seems reasonable. We have to get back to this level or we’re done. The DOJ needs to enforce anti-trust laws and start going after the medical cartels.
Americans are sick because, according to RFK, they aren’t inserting the right foods into rectum. This is the “leadership” America voted for last election cycle.
https://www.themirror.com/news/politics/rfk-jr-dietary-guidelines-1683562
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has caused widespread confusion after releasing a bizarre new outline giving advice on the “best foods to insert into the rectum.”
lol. Cmon that’s a bogus claim. RFK jr holds enough wrong opinions to only mock him for those. Like thinking Americans should eat lots of meat because they don’t get enough “protein, protein, protein”. He’s like a YouTube gym bro.
Have you noticed that nearly everything is touting “Protein” my bread has Protein now, and so does my cereal, some healthy snacks now do, but didn’t, Etc. I don’t recall a call for Protein like I do now, ever before in my lifetime.
We should get a second opinion from Dr. Oz, and maybe he can call in Dr. Phil for consultation. It was a bit long ago that this was a preposterous sentence.
The Mirror is always good for a laugh.
Fine British tab.
The DOJ probably has fewer employees now than it did on January 19, 2025, what with all of the layoffs and voluntary departures in the second Trump term.
But they still have the people to go after antisemitism?
Other first world nations are 8-12%… Significantly less. US spends the most in the world, for worse outcomes. Industrial for profit food system shares some blame, but the glaring difference is our for-profit system vs other advanced nations various forms of socialized systems. US is only one without and suffers as a result.
So we have a great choice? Doctor government bureaucrat or Dr. corporate private equity vulture?
The choice is pay more for less or stop being retarded
I can already tell what your choice is
The median american, especially over 40, are borderline obese. With obesity comes many medical problems. Perhaps if people ate better and got more exercise they would be healthier?
That would help them feel better about themselves, which would mean they wouldn’t have to buy so much crap to give their life meaning, which would mean consumption would go down. This is bad for America.
The headlines have been “inflation down” but I went to the grocery store this weekend and spent $320 on groceries. $60 for beef, $40 for 4 lobster tails (on sale). That accounted for $100 and the rest were regular items for $220. I told my wife that in 10 years prices would easily be double so $640 in 2036 for groceries.
A boomer relative was complaining her Eloquis (anti-stroke meds) went up from $100 to $135 per month. A 35% increase and there is no generics. She is looking to go overseas to stock up, I think she said it’s 1/6th the cost in Mexico. Cheaper to fly down there, stock up and fly back. I told her next time I fly to Asia, I’ll bring back a year’s supply.
With 80m boomers going online with medicare, I expect health care costs to explode over the next 5 years.
All of this begs one big question…..
Got exit strategy?
Try your best to stay healthy is the only option. A diet low, or better, absent Sugar and all other inflammation foods. That will help a lot right there.
Don’t go out to eat, or if you do, choose a wise healthier option. May not taste as good to those aging taste buds, but your Heart, and Knees will “Thank You” for it!
MOVE, as sitting around ages you quickly. You must use your body, and all of it. Stretch, exercise, etc. Things like that, and if possible get a pet, as they energize you, and help you to take care of yourself, as you take care of them. I do 3 Walks a day with my 25 Lb puppy alone.
So many countries are either refusing or instituting requirements and restrictions for expats that you may have to settle for Mars. The Ugly American sticks out like a sore thumb. If it were easy everybody would be doing it. The cadre of Ugly American ExPats I know of are always back in the states with bragidorso but are also always back for leaching off of Apple Pie. They are the most nominally unproductive and uncontributing people I know. Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry. Americans will one day also be kicked out of 109 countries too.
i’ve been all over the world, including cuba and russia. i really never encountered any hate from people for being who i am. gotten much worse treatment in different regions in usa.
You always have your Italian hat as backup. I travel effortlessly too, but keep moving. Many places have restrictions on length of time, health insurance requrement and property ownership. All things the United States should have for foreigners.
The south … jeebus. Don’t be different in any way if you go down there, or they’re gonna zero in on you…
You’re projecting again. I’m not an ugly American as you put it but given the theme of many of your comments, I can see why YOU would feel that way about yourself.
Damn, just take the money and run, and have it over with already. It is like the celeberties always threatening to leave the US, and then they keep popping up and are still here. An economy built on Financialization and not productivity is a world wide problem now. People can find temporary relief moving to a new state or country, the problems of the world are systemic.
In the last year the dollar has lost over 10% on average of its value against major foreign currencies, so its not as affordable as it once was. People used to knock the ball out of the park after a currency crisis. Now the USA is in currency crises.
If your right and grocery prices double in 10 years it means food inflation of 7% a year.
There will be a LOT of hungry people if that happens and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of social unrest.
The key issue is going to be water.
Fracking uses tons of water.
Data centers use tons of water.
Farming uses tons of water.
People use tons of water.
There are already water wars all over the place and no one has any real solutions and forget about asking people to cut back.
There are some smaller solutions being applied and seem to work in Europe. I was limited to how much hot water you have, and how long your water overall stays on. I got used to that fast. We do that here in some Commercial properties like hotels, motels and the like, and some businesses too, but scarce of course.
Trump has a solution.
What do you think Greenland is all about? Data centers locate there for cooling and access to unlimited water (glacier melt). The water is then piped to the US mainland (entering in Maine). Length of pipeline (1800 miles) isn’t anything more than oil pipeline lengths.
Greenland water is what will keep America going for a very long time.
We just had Millions leave those numbers of people in need. Many were getting fed, housed, and schooled, so the availability exist if needed, to take care of quite a few people if necessary it would appear, but for Americans this time.
Has she tried the company provided copay assistance for getting the dug at 10 bucks?
https://www.eliquis.bmscustomerconnect.com/savings