Tag: Medicare

Health, South DakotaLeave a comment

South Dakota’s high healthcare costs causing many to skip treatments

Gary Dickson

The high cost of obtaining health care in South Dakota – ranked second most expensive in the nation – is prompting some residents to forgo necessary medical care over worries they cannot afford it, according to a recent national data analysis.

South Dakota is followed only by North Carolina in a new national ranking of healthcare expenses based on the cost of medical care and insurance. At nearly $12,500 per year, the state has the highest per-capita healthcare spending rate among all Great Plains states, the data show. Continue reading South Dakota’s high healthcare costs causing many to skip treatments

Family, Health, Iowa, South DakotaLeave a comment

A new era of vaccines leaves old questions about prices unanswered

Gary Dickson

The world is entering a new era of vaccines. Following the success of COVID-19 mRNA shots, scientists have a far greater capacity to tailor shots to a virus’s structure, putting a host of new vaccines on the horizon. These shots are welcome since RSV can be dangerous, even deadly, in the very old and very young. But the shots are also expensive. So their advent is forcing the United States to face anew questions it has long sidestepped: How much should an immunization that will possibly be given — maybe yearly — to millions of Americans cost to be truly valuable? Continue reading A new era of vaccines leaves old questions about prices unanswered