What Confusion about Health Insurance Looks Like in the Doctor's Office

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Mark Letterman’s rheumatoid arthritis had been progressing unrelentingly despite popping dozens of pills each week – eight methotrexate pills on Mondays alone. Letterman felt like he was 63 going on 93.
If rheumatoid arthritis progresses unchecked, it is as debilitating of a disease as can be imagined. Don’t think garden variety arthritis that only interferes with activities like, um, gardening. Think: finger and wrist joints so inflamed it feels like your hands have suffered a heat stroke from the inside out. Imagine: the joints of your toes so damaged you have to purchase shoes at a medical supply store, even though you will still be lucky to walk on a good day. Rheumatoid arthritis is a severe, inflammatory disorder that simultaneously deforms and disables.
Letterman – a pseudonym – and his doctor gave permission for Verilogue Inc., a marketing company, to audio-record their interaction. The clinic appointment was one of many that my colleagues and I analyzed to see what happens when doctors and patients discuss healthcare costs. That appointment revealed a disturbingly common problem – sometimes doctors and patients get so confused about insurance coverage, they can’t figure out how best to treat patients’ illnesses.
(To read the rest of this article, please visit Forbes.)

If You Look for Cancer, You'll Find It

Korea Thyroid Cancer PicWhat would you like first: the good news or the bad news? Let me start with the bad. Life expectancy among patients in the U.S. with thyroid cancer lags behind that in Korea. In fact, the vast majority of patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Korea are cured of that illness, a statement I can’t as easily make about the U.S.
The good news? Life expectancy among patients in the U.S. with thyroid cancer lags behind that in Korea.
Okay, I kind of pulled a fast one on you. I tried to mislead you into thinking it is bad when cancer patients in another country out-live cancer patients in the U.S. On the surface, living longer after experiencing a cancer diagnosis seems to be a good thing. All else equal, it is better to survive cancer than to die from it.
But all else is far from equal when it comes to thyroid cancer in the U.S. versus Korea. (To read the rest of this article, please visit Forbes.)

PeterUbel