There has been lots written lately about the soaring cost of cancer care. You’re spending a lot on cancer recently in part because of many wonderful new treatments that come with a substantial price tag. But there has been less chatter about which cancers we are spending money on. Here’s a nice picture illustrating that…
I have two teenage boys. So of course I’m worried about them skipping the dating scene and engaging in “hookups.” That seems to be what kids do these days. But now, do I also have to worry about them engaging in hookah? Dave Chokshi (@davechokshi) recently tweeted an image of trends in tobacco use among…
With increasing frequency, Americans are purchasing health insurance plans that require high out-of-pocket costs. Chief among those costs are deductibles, the amount of money a person or family must spend out-of-pocket on medical care in a year before their health insurance “kicks in.” As this figure illustrates, from the Kaiser Family Foundation, deductibles have been…
Every once in a while, I like to highlight outstanding writing in my blog. I guess that makes up for the writing otherwise expose you to – namely, my own. As I expect most of you know, there’s been a horrible situation in Flint, Michigan recently, with government negligence leading to lead poisoning in the…
Came across this cool graphic, showing the rise and fall of U.S. cigarette consumption. The picture also shows when various policy levers were pulled, and how those levers track to consumption. WARNING: No proof of cause and effect. But still quite interesting.
The starting salary of an orthopedic surgeon in the United States is $565,000. Family medicine physicians, by contrast, can expect a starting salary closer to $250,000, a good living by almost any measure, but a pay disparity that doesn’t strike most experts as reflecting the value, or importance, of these two specialties. If Kennedy wants…