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.
Sometimes it is hard for hospitals to provide expensive care to poor patients. When a low-income patient needs $20,000 of chemotherapy, a hospital loses money if that patient cannot pay for the medicine, or pays through Medicaid, with its relatively stingy reimbursement. Fortunately, the federal government created a program for hospitals that care for a…
ICYMI: When people watch action movies, they consume more calories.
The federal government is currently debating whether the big six health insurance companies in the U.S. will soon become the big four. Aetna and Humana have announced plans to merge, as have Anthem and Cigna. The American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association strongly oppose the mergers, saying they will reduce competition in consumer…
“Is Information Always A Good Thing?” – Medical Care
(AP Photo/Kathy Willens) Frank Thomas is a 6 foot 5 inch hulk of a man, the 7th player in MLB history to retire with a batting average greater than .300 and more than 500 home runs. He was also thought of as a clean player, despite playing in the steroid era, and even advocated for drug…
It is well accepted among health economics wonks that the lion’s share of pharmaceutical company profits come when these companies hold exclusive rights to their products. Once their blockbuster pills go “generic,” competitors enter the marketplace and profits plummet. Consider captopril, a groundbreaking heart failure medication introduced in the early 80s by Bristol-Myers Squibb under…