Category Archives: Health care

Experts Declare Physician Burnout ‘a Public Health Crisis’ – and Health IT a Significant Pathogen

Electronic health care records continue to be a drag on doctor productivity and the quality of treatment.

Medicare For All — The Democratic Party Audition for 2020

The debate over Medicare for All is forcing Team Dem to show its true colors.

3 Ways Trump Could Disrupt Health Care for the Better

Even fairly modest changes in health care come off as disruptive relative to what many experts are willing to endorse.

The Planetary Health Diet Isn’t Much Use to People Living in Food Poverty

Diet has now become political. But will the food industry support more sustainable diets, particularly for low income consumers?

Michael Olenick: Helicidine – French Miracle Snails

Snails to the rescue!

Why the Green New Deal Is the Stuff of Fantasyland

Why the Green New Deal can’t deliver on its promises.

Mortality, Medical Coding and the (Purported) Drop in Hospital Readmission Rates

The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, patient mortality, and a medical coding debacle

Health Insurer Greed or Desperation? An Odd Data Point From Cigna

Cigna looks way too eager to squeeze money from customers.

The Mysteries Surrounding Rhodes Pharmaceuticals, the Sackler Family’s Second Opioid Company

The Sackler family has managed to hide its ownership of a drug company with an even bigger share of the US opioid market than Purdue Pharma.

Kiss What Is Left of Your Medical Data Privacy Goodbye

While you weren’t looking, a full-bore assault on what is left of your medical privacy has been gaining ground.

Should Institutional Providers Be Incentivized by Profit under Medicare for All?

Provider payment strategies under S1804 and HR676 (and what Jayapal should do with a new version of HR676).

Taking Surprise Medical Bills To Court Under the Theory of “Mutual Assent”

Contract law rests on the centuries-old concept of “mutual assent,” in which both sides agree to a price before services are rendered. But patients rarely know upfront how much their medical care will cost.

Two Medicare for All Plans: HR676 and S1804

There are substantive differences between HR676 and S1804