A JAMA study shows how our diets have changed since 2000. The big winners?
Nuts
Whole grains
Whole fruits
The big losers?
Sugar sweetened beverages
Fruit juice
White potatoes
Maybe there’s hope for us after all?
All else equal, it would be wonderful if hospitals had an incentive to provide high quality care. It does not seem fair to pay the same amount of money to a hospital that does a great job of caring for its pneumonia patients and one that does a lousy job. For the most part, however,…
Some people look at the figure below, and say that too few insurance companies have too much of the market for Medicare Advantage (a program that allows Medicare recipients to get private coverage). But I look at it and think it looks like a pretty robust market: What do you think?
“eBay and the Brain: What Psychology Teaches Us about the Economic Downturn” – Scientific American
Good medical outcomes often depends on good nursing care. When hospitals cut back on nursing care, patient mortality rates climb. If you want a good hospital, pick one that doesn’t skimp on the nurse-to-patient ratio. You should also look at the education level of nurses a hospital employs. Because not all nurses are equally skilled….
The U.S. healthcare system has an unsung hero – community health centers, which provide basic medical care for under-served communities. Even dental care! Right now 1 in 6 Medicaid enrollees receives care at one of these centers, a proportion that has been growing for decades: In some states, 1 in 3 enrollees use community health…
Here is a chart from the Washington Post, showing the percent of people lacking health insurance over the last few years. For a long time now, a higher proportion of Democrats have been uninsured than Republicans, with low income and minority communities experiencing a disproportionately high uninsurance rate. But since Obamacare has come into effect,…