The Relentless Rise of Healthcare Expenditures
Need I say more?
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Turmoil in the Obamacare Exchanges
Here is a nice story from a NC news station explaining the turmoil in the exchanges, with Aetna pulling out of many markets. Worth a quick read. North Carolina consumers buying broadly subsidized health insurance policies on the online marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act will have fewer options after a major insurer pulls…
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Could a Zika Epidemic Be the Key to a Trump Victory?
Platforms and popularity ratings; policies and debate performances; PAC funding and get-out-the-vote efforts – so many factors can make the difference in a close election. But uncontrollable world events can tip elections too. In fact, Donald Trump’s election chances may depend on something as seemingly random as a global epidemic. Epidemics of contagious disease are…
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If You Don’t Have Employer Insurance, You Probably Have a High Deductible
Most people in the United States get health insurance either through their employer or through government programs like Medicare and Medicaid. But some people have to find other ways to get healthcare insurance, with an increasing number of people doing so through the Obamacare exchanges, or “marketplaces.” In fact, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation…
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Your Physician Can't See You Yet – She's Busy Filling Out Paperwork!
Left to our own devices, most of us physicians try our best to provide high quality care to our patients. But almost none of us provide perfect care to all of our patients all of the time. In fact, many of us get so caught up in our busy clinic schedules we occasionally forget to,…
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When It Comes to Healthcare, Republicans Have a Trust Problem
Here is some polling data, on a wide range of health and healthcare issues. It shows pretty consistently that Americans trust Democrats more than Republicans on these issues: I think it’s time for Republicans to move beyond “repeal and replace” and start showing the American people that they have productive ideas about how to improve…
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How to Figure Out the Cost of Your Medical Care
Here is a link to an article from CBS News with some very practical advice on this thorny topic. I’m excited to say that some of our research on physician/patient communication was mentioned in the article. Enjoy it! If you’re like most people, you’re paying more for your health care — and stressing about…
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Is The Golden Era of Pharmaceutical Profits Over?
For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has been highly profitable. The recipe for such profits has been pretty simple for most of the last half-century–discover a chemical or molecule that treats a common problem, like hypertension or diabetes or erectile dysfunction, and make billions of dollars while that product is still under patent protection. But of…
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A Force More Powerful Than Anti-Vaxxers? Economics!
We have a vaccine crisis in the this country. Not just the one caused by anti-vaxxers like Jenny McCarthy, scaring Americans away from life-saving childhood vaccines with pseudo-scientific claims about autism. Instead I’m talking about a bigger crisis, one caused by a dangerously thin supply of vaccines. Wise parents who ignore the blatherings of people…