Gorillacillin and the Tragedy of the Commons
Was I right to prescribe an inferior medication to my patient?
(Read the rest and view comments at Critical Decisions)
Was I right to prescribe an inferior medication to my patient?
(Read the rest and view comments at Critical Decisions)
Under the Big Beautiful Bill, the federal government is making steep cuts to Medicaid funding. Those cuts could increase the price you pay for medical care. Here’s why when the government cuts Medicaid funding, we all pay the price. Read more here
Many companies are large enough they self-insure—they take on the financial risk of paying for their employees’ health expenses. In these cases, there is no insurance company around to negotiate prices. Instead, your employer must bring itself to the negotiating table (or maybe, these days, to the negotiation-Zoom-room?). That might mean that your costs, including…
Imagine picking up a telephone and hearing your doctor tell you there is a “999 out of 1,000 chance that you’ll be dead within a decade.” That’s what Leonard Mlodinow experienced in 1989, when his routine HIV test didn’t turn out the way he expected. Mlodinow tells this story in his 2008 book, The Drunkard’s Walk,…
Check out my recent interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education about the rising costs of education and healthcare: For decades, higher education has come under public scrutiny for rising costs. But there is at least one other sector that seems to feel even more heat from policy makers and ire from the public. That…
Imagine for a moment that you are an oncologist caring for a 53-year-old man with metastatic cancer, a person whose tumor has spread to lung and liver. With standard chemotherapy, this man can expect to live around 12 months. That standard treatment isn’t all that expensive in today’s terms, only $25,000 and his insurance company will pick up the entire tab since he is already maxed out on his yearly deductible and co-pays.
read more
A cranky customer snaps at his barista, lodging an unjustifiable complaint about the service, the temperature of the drink…about anything and everything. He came into the store angry (and in pain from a chronic illness) and he needed something–or someone!–to take it out on. He is met by a well-trained smile, the barista doling out…