PeterUbel

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the number one cause of non-traumatic disability among young adults. MS is a chronic, incurable illness that destroys some of the body’s most basic neurological functions. Fortunately, there are now a slew of amazing medicines that often slow the disease considerably. These medicines can be the difference between whether or not a person […]

More than 13,000 American women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2018. More than 4,000 died from the disease that year. Those are tragic facts for lots of reasons, chief among them being that cervical cancer is often preventable. The good news is, there’s more ways to prevent cervical cancer than ever. (To read the […]

Here are a few things we know to be true. ●      Healthcare spending in the U.S. is too high ●      Drug prices in the U.S. are growing rapidly ●      Drug prices in the U.S. are higher than they are in other parts of the world Based on these facts, you’d think high drug prices are causing healthcare spending […]

One of my elderly relatives was in line at the grocery store one day and saw the person ahead of him charging what looked like a cart full of junk food to her food assistance card. My relative was incensed: Why, should his hard earned tax dollars be used to pay for someone’s Cheetos? Currently, […]

I recently came across a disturbing picture. I know that life in America is unfair. That access to medical care is uneven. That the chance of living a long life is often heavily influenced by socioeconomic disparities. But this figure still astonished me. It shows mortality for people suffering from Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, better known […]

Happiness doesn’t always come easily. Some people seem naturally happy, like they inherited the right gene or were born into the right circumstances. Many other people struggle to find happiness. Perhaps even more people hope to become happier than they already are. But what kind of plan should people follow if they are hoping to […]

The field of behavioral economics has brought attention to promising ways of motivating people to make better life choices. Many behavioral economic-inspired interventions are relatively hands off — they nudge people to make wiser decisions without in any way restricting their choices. The idea of nudges was made justifiably popular by Cass Sunstein and Dick Thaler […]

In 2010, the state of Rhode Island decided to tackle high healthcare costs. It did so by requiring insurers to meet affordability standards. The plan worked, but not for the reasons you probably suspect. Let’s start with what Rhode Island’s standards look like. It required several things of insurers: Premium caps – with annual inflation equal […]

I’ll get right to the dismal data: Americans are dying from poison at an alarming rate. In 2005, death by poison in the U.S. occurred in about 11 of every 100,000 people over age 15. By 2016, that number had more than doubled, to 24. Any guesses at what could explain this horrific statistic? (To […]

Over half of Medicare spending is concentrated in 10% of patients. With Medicare expenditures rising at an unsustainable clip, reigning in the costs of those patients is key to controlling healthcare spending. So who are those patients and what expenses are they racking up? (To read the rest of the article, please visit Forbes.)