Saturday Longforms; “Geriatric” pregnancies, AI will raise costs, and domestic medical supplies. Animal photos too

July 18, 2026

A. 11 Rounds of IVF, $250,000, and No Baby

Erica Schwiegershausen writes in New York Magazine’s The Cut that even though (some) celebrities are successfully becoming pregnant after 45, most women over 45 have enormous difficulties (and expenses) in getting pregnant.

B. Why artificial intelligence (AI) will accelerate health care inflation

David Brailer, the first National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, has a long history of promoting technology adoption in health care delivery. Under his leadership the federal government promoted widespread adoption of electronic medical records. These led to higher medical costs, as physicians no longer “missed” critical abnormal lab values.

Brailer writes in Health Affairs Forefront that AI use will be valuable clinically, such as finding cancers earlier or discovery of new drugs. This will raise costs. He also notes that much of the use of AI will be “extractive,” like higher intensity codes supported by AI-infused documentation.

See my post on this, Artificial intelligence is not likely to lower health care costs, from December, 2025.

C. It’s not easy to make medical gloves in the US

Anna Edsey of Bloomberg (limited time gift link) writes that the US uses 120 billion medical nitrile gloves each year. The federal government has given out $1 billion in subsidies to American manufacturers, but none have been able to produce these gloves out of entirely American materials.

Hope you have a great weekend.

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Views expressed in Employer Coverage are purely my own. Scroll down for animal photos.

Animal Photo:

Moorhens in Delray Beach FL (May, 2026) and Rio Mar, Puerto Rico (June, 2026)