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A Drug to Treat Cancer and Heart Disease (Miracle Cure or Media Hype?)
ByadminIn a recent New York Times article, physician-author Siddhartha Mukherjee wrote about a clinical trial that he characterized as “beautiful,” for potentially illuminating a surprising connection between heart disease and cancer. Mukherjee is a justifiably acclaimed writer, who publishes regularly in The New Yorkerand The New York Times, and who won a Pulitzer for his bestselling book The Emperor of All Maladies. But…
Judging Policies by Their Supporters
ByadminThe world is complicated. It’s hard to know what the federal government should do about a whole range of problems. That’s why most people take a shortcut, and judge policies based on their opinion of the people who support or oppose those policies. If you like someone, and he supports a policy, then you are…
Is The Golden Era of Pharmaceutical Profits Over?
ByadminFor decades, the pharmaceutical industry has been highly profitable. The recipe for such profits has been pretty simple for most of the last half-century–discover a chemical or molecule that treats a common problem, like hypertension or diabetes or erectile dysfunction, and make billions of dollars while that product is still under patent protection. But of…
Repealing Obamacare Could Close Your Local Hospital
ByadminShutterstock Last spring and summer, the Republicans stumbled in their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. But they might try a new approach later this year. If they do, expect to hear more debates about what their replacement plans mean for chronically ill Americans. People with pre-existing conditions might get priced out of insurance. People…
Physicians Can't Stop Overtreating Diabetes And Hypertension
ByadminAggressive control of blood pressure has saved millions of lives, and has prevented millions of people from experiencing heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure, among other things. Admittedly, controlling blood pressure is not the sexy part of medical care, but when primary care doctors like me help people get their blood pressure under control, we…
What Physicians Could Learn from Accountants and Veterinarians
ByadminRebecca Plevin, from KPCC public radio in California, is quickly becoming one of my favorite health reporters. She is really digging in to the strange world of health economics. Here’s a nice piece she did, comparing how people talk about costs when meeting with financial counselors versus veterinarians versus, of course, going to see their…

