Yes, I’ve ranted about healthcare prices before. On more than one occasion. But I have a new rant for you. It’s not about the high price of new drugs It’s not about a couple pharmo-bro CEOs hiking prices of generic medications by 4 or 5,000% It’s about brand name drugs already on the market, that,…
As a father of two adolescent boys, I think often about the risks they face. I just came across a terrifying statistic that will haunt me: a huge proportion of deaths among adolescents occur as a result of firearms. (To read the rest of the article, please visit Forbes.)
Many of us have been told that urine is normally sterile, meaning that if bacteria show up in, say, a routine urine test, there must be something wrong—we need to get rid of those bacteria. But as it turns out, in many people with asymptomatic bacteriuria—people who have bacteria in their urine but no symptoms…
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the number one cause of non-traumatic disability among young adults. MS is a chronic, incurable illness that destroys some of the body’s most basic neurological functions. Fortunately, there are now a slew of amazing medicines that often slow the disease considerably. These medicines can be the difference between whether or not a person…
More than 13,000 American women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2018. More than 4,000 died from the disease that year. Those are tragic facts for lots of reasons, chief among them being that cervical cancer is often preventable. The good news is, there’s more ways to prevent cervical cancer than ever. (To read the…
Here are a few things we know to be true. ● Healthcare spending in the U.S. is too high ● Drug prices in the U.S. are growing rapidly ● Drug prices in the U.S. are higher than they are in other parts of the world Based on these facts, you’d think high drug prices are causing healthcare spending…
One of my elderly relatives was in line at the grocery store one day and saw the person ahead of him charging what looked like a cart full of junk food to her food assistance card. My relative was incensed: Why, should his hard earned tax dollars be used to pay for someone’s Cheetos? Currently,…
I recently came across a disturbing picture. I know that life in America is unfair. That access to medical care is uneven. That the chance of living a long life is often heavily influenced by socioeconomic disparities. But this figure still astonished me. It shows mortality for people suffering from Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, better known…
Happiness doesn’t always come easily. Some people seem naturally happy, like they inherited the right gene or were born into the right circumstances. Many other people struggle to find happiness. Perhaps even more people hope to become happier than they already are. But what kind of plan should people follow if they are hoping to…
The field of behavioral economics has brought attention to promising ways of motivating people to make better life choices. Many behavioral economic-inspired interventions are relatively hands off — they nudge people to make wiser decisions without in any way restricting their choices. The idea of nudges was made justifiably popular by Cass Sunstein and Dick Thaler…