Want to go bankrupt from medical bills? You should move to the United States, where that fate is WAY more possible than in other wealthy countries:
#WeNeedToFixThis
There are lots of reasons many community hospitals and nursing homes are at risk of bankruptcy. One reason: Sometimes the very entities owning hospitals and nursing homes are purposely bankrupting them, pillaging them of their value to maximize the owners’ profits. It is a type of self-dealing known as “related-party earnings,” and here is how…
Take 100 Americans who have used medical care this year, find the one who has receive the most medical care, and you have probably accounted for a fifth of all healthcare spending in that group. One person, 20% of spending – that is how skewed healthcare consumption is in this country. Here’s a picture, which…
One of my favorite radio shows, Marketplace, did a story on our recent study, in which we showed that physicians sometimes miss out on opportunities to help patients lower their out-of-pocket expenses. The piece features a medical student who’s been working with me on this project, Wynn Hunter, who is making his first national public…
For my entire life, a half century and counting, healthcare spending in the U.S. has almost always risen faster than inflation. Sometimes it’s relatively slow, sometimes it’s relatively fast, but no matter the time, healthcare spending is climbing. Getting healthcare spending under control is really important for us to do if we hope to have…
“Doctor, First Tell Me What It Costs” – The New York Times
The right to die has played a critical role in the development of the doctor/patient relationship. It was families clamoring for the right to allow their loved ones to die who forced the world to recognize that physicians’ medical decisions aren’t just medical decisions, but involve enormous value judgments. In 1975, Karen Ann Quinlan’s loving…