Finally! Starting to Study Food Waste
In developed countries, upwards of 65% of food is wasted, meaning that somewhere from farm to table it ends up in the trash. Fortunately, researchers are finally beginning to study the problem:
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What Will It Take to Keep People from Gaining Weight?
Losing weight is hard. And keeping it off once you’ve lost it–that’s probably even harder. Just ask Oprah. So maybe those of us who are overweight or obese should simply focus on not gaining more weight than we’ve already gained. Surely that’s easier. Right? Well, not long ago a group of researchers ran a study…
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The Cost of New Cancer Drugs (In One Picture)
“Specialty drugs” – that’s what they’re called. Not the pills of old, these pharmaceuticals are often given intravenously or through injection. Often more biologic in their synthesis than chemical, they are expensive to produce and often target narrow disease processes, meaning the number of patients likely to benefit from them is much much smaller than,…
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Medical Debt Demystified (What You Owe Isn't Necessarily What You Owe)
When Lorie Duff was pregnant with her third child, she did what all good moms are supposed to do. She went to the ObGyn clinic for prenatal care. But she fell behind on the clinic payments. She only made about $25,000 a year managing an auto parts store while her husband stayed home with their…
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Obamacare Insurance Premiums – Not Growing Too Fast
Here’s a picture from a New England Journal of Medicine article showing that in 2015 and 2016, Obamacare premiums grew more slowly than private insurance premiums rose before the law came into effect: The Obamacare markets are new and unsettled. But so far they aren’t leading to runaway inflation. But what will happen to these…
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What Is Maddening about Pharmaceutical Prices?
Imagine that you are gasping for breath, literally on the verge of death. Then someone injects you with a medicine and – miracle! – you are perfectly healthy again. Would you pay $300 for that injection? The treatment is epinephrine; your illness was a life-threatening allergy. And that $300 price? That reflects a six-fold increase…
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What Are the Biggest Forces Driving Change in the Healthcare Marketplace?
Here is what one group of experts thought:
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Does a Church Service a Week Keep the Doctor Away?
Religious belief has many health benefits. For some people, religious belief reduces existential angst, the reduction in stress leading to lower blood pressure and a stronger immune system. For others, religious belief gives their lives purpose, that purpose motivating them in ways that improve their health. And of course, sometimes religious belief is associated with…
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