If you only paid attention to popular media, you’d think cancers primarily strike young people. Here’s a picture from a medical journal contrasting media coverage of cancer to actual occurrence of cancer in younger and older people:
“How to Tell Someone That She Is Dying” – The New Yorker
Karen Scherr, an MD PhD student working with me, just published a paper showing that physicians don’t always give patients objective advice about the pros and cons of robotic surgery. Here is a news story on her work: Duke University research found that doctors are more enthusiastic about treatments that are readily available, calling into question…
Some people worried that the ACA would kill employer-sponsored health insurance, by giving employers an “out” – by letting them shift insurance to the exchanges. The ACA set up financial incentives, to reduce such shifting. And so far, it looks like it’s working: Still quite early, of course. I’ll keep my eyes open for further…
Because of Obamacare, more Americans have healthcare insurance and therefore more people are able to pay for medical care when they receive it. As a result, there has been a $5.7 billion drop in uncompensated hospital care just in those states that, per Obamacare, expanded Medicaid eligibility:
Ken Mishark is a hospitalist at the Mayo Clinic who formerly served as a physician in the military. Early in his career, he interviewed for a job in the CIA. That experience might explain why he paid attention when the CIA declassified a manual it had developed on how to conduct “enhanced interrogations”. As he…