Here’s the Medical Care People Skip Because of Cost
According to a report from FamiliesUSA, an organization advocating for improved healthcare coverage, these are the medical services people forego when money gets tight:

People have criticized The Affordable Care Act for amounting to a large transfer of wealth, from wealthy Americans to those not as well off. But the real transfer of wealth has been from United States to other developed nations, whose healthcare costs we have subsidized for many years by paying so generously for many of…
Quick quiz question: two people are diagnosed with melanoma – Sarah Sunburn, an adamant sun-worshipper, and Paula Pale-All-The-Time, a fanatical sun-avoider. Who is more likely to die of the disease? The answer is pale-faced Paula. Surprised? Let me unpack this mystery and explain why sun exposure simultaneously kills people, while making the cancers they are…
None of us view our children objectively. To a parent, Junior is always smarter, more talented and more attractive than objective evidence would indicate. But look at just how skewed parents’ views of their children are, when it comes to deciding whether their children are overweight. Not until a child gets near the top three…
A friend of mine recently had a very sore throat. She knew how to manage her symptoms–lozenges, warm tea and the like. But she was worried she might have strep and would therefore need antibiotics. That should be a simple question to answer with a quick trip to the primary care clinic. Except that her…
In a recent Huffington Post article, I was described as a Duke University economist. I’m sure the economic community would like to make very clear that I am not one of its members. The same goes for most communities, as far as I can tell. Nevertheless, despite that glaring error, much of the content of…
Peter Bach and I have an essay in the Annals of Internal Medicine laying out some of the problems with pharmaceutical funded copay assistance programs. Check it out.