Decision of the Month

Books





The Cost of Human Nature

December 9th, 2009

Is a test that costs $800,000 to add one year of life worthwhile? In one survey, most physicians said yes-evidence that controlling costs will require overcoming very powerful, and irrational, psychological forces.
Imagine for a moment that you are in charge of the U.S. health care system, and must decide whether to pay for a new [...]

Obama is to a Colostomy like Hope is to a …?

November 8th, 2009

Would you rather experience a bad situation forever or for just six months? Any sane person would choose the temporary situation. And yet, according to a study I published this week, if you chose the temporary situation, you’d be more likely to suffer over the next six months-so focused on the hope that your situation [...]

Fat Lazy Neighborhoods?

October 26th, 2009

If I told you that neighborhoods cause people to develop diabetes, would you believe me? And would that make you more or less willing to see your tax dollars spent researching ways to treat and prevent diabetes?
That is essentially the question my colleagues and I posed to a wide swath of Americans, and a question, [...]

When Good Medical Care is All or Something

October 12th, 2009

One of the greatest joys of practicing medicine is for me to understand where my patients are coming from, so I can best help them through their medical journey. I was reminded of this fact recently, when talking with a patient who had just come back to my primary care clinic after visiting the liver [...]

Health Care Reform: Prove It or Lose it

September 24th, 2009

In an effort to be the first president since Lyndon Johnson to succeed in reforming our nation’s health care system, President Obama is exhibiting honorable flexibility. Taxing health care benefits for employees? He was against it when running for office, but he is considering it now that the federal budget deficit is growing [...]

Hitler’s Testicles and Palin’s Death Panels

August 19th, 2009

Did you know that Adolf Hitler had three testicles?
You didn’t? Well, you are right. That is just an urban legend — one that I have just created.
In fact, if anyone tells you that Hitler had three testicles, they are either misinformed or they are lying.
Why am I mentioning Hitler’s three testicles to you right now? [...]

Republicans and Health Care Reform: Who’s Divided?

August 7th, 2009

Republicans criticizing health care reform efforts are beginning to sound as principled as Groucho Marx, who once quipped: “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them, . . . well I have others.” On the one hand Republicans complain that health care reform will cost too much money. On the other [...]

Reforming Not Only How We Pay Physicians, but How Much We Pay Them

July 23rd, 2009

Any sensible plan to reform the U.S. health care system must reform the way we pay physicians. Currently, we reward doctors for doing more “stuff” for their patients — for performing tests and procedures whether or not these interventions are necessary. Because of this strange reimbursement system, many primary care physicians receive more [...]

Comparative Effectiveness: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

July 15th, 2009

No sooner had the Obama administration committed a billion dollars to comparative effectiveness research than the critics began laying out their concerns: such research is a prelude to rationing, they said; it threatens to thwart doctors’ and patients’ abilities to make their own decisions. It will transfer too much power to government bureaucrats and treat [...]

Tiger Woods and Health Care Reform

June 23rd, 2009

American presidents have been trying to reform our health care system since at least the Nixon era, but with only limited success. Past reform efforts have failed for many reasons. For starters, the U.S. health care system is complex, with the medical industry making up almost 1/6 of our economy. But perhaps the biggest obstacle [...]



I am a physician and behavioral scientist. My research and writing explores the quirks in human nature that influence our lives -- the mixture of rational and irrational forces that affect our health, our happiness and the way our society functions....

more

Go to my Academic site

 Subscribe to my blog

Enter your e-mail address to receive notifications when there are new posts

Archives