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Medicare Is Reducing the Cost of Knee Replacements (Here's How That Could Backfire)
ByadminKnee replacements are booming. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of knee replacement procedures in the United States doubled, to more than one million. Experts think the figure might rise sixfold more in the next couple decades, because of our aging population. Since many people receiving knee replacements are elderly, Medicare picks up most of…
Thyroid Cancer Rates Are Rising for an Infuriating Reason
ByadminShutterstock The last four decades have witnessed an explosion of thyroid cancer diagnoses in the U.S. People are three times more likely to receive cancer diagnoses now than they were in 1975. Why? Is it chemicals in the water supply? A side effect of all those childhood vaccines? Or is it because a TV ad…
Can’t Afford Medical Care? Welcome to America!
ByadminDavid Blumenthal and colleagues recently wrote a wonderful piece in the New England Journal on the future of Medicare. In it, they present a powerful picture comparing how often people in 11 countries have difficulty accessing medical care because of costs. The good news? The USA came in first place. The bad news? First is…
Why Charging Smokers More for Health Insurance Costs All of Us Money
ByadminCigarette smokers have rights. No one should be able to tell an adult that she can’t spend her hard earned money on cigarettes. But non-smokers have rights, too. Specifically, they shouldn’t have to pay to subsidize health care costs of people who choose to smoke. In fact, smokers hurt non-smokers by racking up health care…
An Easy (But Politically Complicated) Way To Save Billions Of Dollars On Medical Care
ByadminI sometimes worry that my wife Paula won’t be able to see me grow old. Not that I expect to outlive her. She is four years my junior and has the blood pressure of a 17-year-old track star. It’s her eyesight I’m worried about, because she is at risk for a form of blindness called…
Who Hated Domestic Policy More: John Kennedy or Richard Nixon?
ByadminIn an earlier post, I wrote about JFK’s disdain for domestic politics, and how such disdain doomed his lackluster efforts to pass Medicare legislation. As it turns out, Richard Nixon, the man he defeated in the 1962 Presidential Election, held similar disdain for domestic affairs when he was President of the United States, and not…