Here is a public service advertisement, promoting vaccines. (Thanks to Michelle Meyer for making me aware of it.) It harkens back to a day when vaccines weren’t yet available for diseases like polio:
Do you think it will work?
There’s plenty of price gouging in American healthcare. The pharmaceutical industry has gotten plenty of (well deserved) bad press for its pricing practices. At the extreme are people like “Pharma Bro” (and convicted felon) Martin Shkreli, who hiked the price of an important medication to treat infections in AIDS patients by over 5000%. But high and…
Here is a news article from Canada, experiencing the kind of healthcare inflation that causes them to call experts in the U.S. for advice—people like me, but also some actual credible authorities! Some see it as an eternal struggle: the goodhearted doctor championing the best treatments, no matter the cost, while doing battle against the…
Here is a nice, cautionary article from Consumer Reports reporter, Donna Rosato, on the downsides of high deductible health insurance plans: High deductible health insurance plans were supposed to help consumers cut healthcare costs. The idea was that since consumers would have to pay a large chunk of their own money for medical care before…
Today’s science lesson is sponsored by XKCD comics. You can find more at http://xkcd.com/, in case you haven’t checked it out before.
African Americans make up 13% of the country’s population, but only 4% of American physicians are black. This lack of racial diversity in the profession is tragic, denying this prestigious career to many worthy people and undermining the health of many African Americans, who are more likely to receive important medical services when they’re cared for by black…
Good medical outcomes often depends on good nursing care. When hospitals cut back on nursing care, patient mortality rates climb. If you want a good hospital, pick one that doesn’t skimp on the nurse-to-patient ratio. You should also look at the education level of nurses a hospital employs. Because not all nurses are equally skilled….