I was recently quoted in an article about opioid addiction in what looks like a far-right website. Not surprisingly, they took my quote out of context. They quote me, quoting some other people I disagree with, and then use that as evidence for the thing I quote. Here’s an excerpt of the article in case…
In a clever study, secret shoppers called primary care offices in an attempt to make a new patient appointment. People with Obamacare insurance, or “marketplace plans” in the below figure, had a hard time finding appointments. But so did people with traditional insurance. But there’s a bigger takeaway, one slightly obscured by the misleading y-axis,…
Shutterstock Legalizing medical marijuana is controversial. Physicians have not always prescribed controlled substances wisely, as a look at our narcotic epidemic confirms. But marijuana is much safer than narcotics and, according to a recent study, might even save us money, by reducing people’s need for other, often more expensive medications. Most notably, marijuana can be…
Shutterstock Generic cholesterol pills are probably better for most patients than brand-name medications because the lower cost of generics increases the chance the patients will take the pills every day. Yet some physicians primarily prescribe expensive brand-name drugs like Lipitor and Crestor. According to a recent study of physicians in Massachusetts, about a quarter of…
Getting relatively simple procedures is much more expensive in the US than elsewhere. Take the cost of an appendectomy: Or having a baby: Or having a baby by C-section, a more invasive procedure that is not only more expensive in the US than elsewhere, but is often more common: These prices beg for government regulation!
Keeping with my recent theme on US healthcare prices, from the people at Vox media, here’s an illustration of how expensive it is to get an MRI in the United States versus other countries: And the cost of a day in the hospital: Sigh…
Shutterstock There are some sad truths about being an aging male. Your muscle mass usually declines. You start feeling tired more easily. And there’s a good chance either you start losing interest in sex, or start experiencing a decline in sexual performance. Here’s another truth—your testosterone level probably ain’t what it used to be. Which…
In a recent post, I showed two drugs that were much more expensive in the United States than elsewhere. One was for rheumatoid arthritis and the other for hepatitis C. Today we get to look at a cancer drug, Avastin, and just how much more Americans pay for it than people in other countries. This…
The folks at Vox media put together a series of pictures, illustrating how much more expensive medical care is in United States compared to other developed countries. Today, and in the next few days, I’m going to circulate some of those pictures. Prepare yourself for horror! Take medications, for example. (Please!) Pills for rheumatoid arthritis…
Shutterstock Mark Letterman’s rheumatoid arthritis had been progressing unrelentingly despite popping dozens of pills each week – eight methotrexate pills on Mondays alone. Letterman felt like he was 63 going on 93. If rheumatoid arthritis progresses unchecked, it is as debilitating of a disease as can be imagined. Don’t think garden variety arthritis that only…