Similar Posts
Obamacare Is Experimenting on Us (Does That Make Us Frankenstein or Fusilli?)
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Obamacare is a large, unwieldy law. Despite its complexity, most people are familiar with its most important elements. They know it created a marketplace where people can shop for healthcare insurance; many are even aware that the cost of that insurance is subsidized for people with lower incomes. Others realize…
In Medical Market, Shoppers Lack Savvy
Even before Obamacare became the law of the land, the U.S. health care system was undergoing a dramatic transformation. Millions of people were shifting from generous health insurance plans to consumer-directed ones that pair low monthly premiums with high out-of-pocket costs. This shift has been encouraged by employers, eager to reduce the cost of employee…
5 Ways To Figure Out Whether You Are Being Overtreated For Your Diabetes
Diabetes is a dangerous disease, putting people at risk for heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, amputation…plenty of serious stuff. Fortunately, pills and injections can reduce blood sugar and thereby reduce the risk of those awful sequels. Unfortunately, doctors sometimes treat blood sugar too aggressively, lowering it beyond the point where it helps avert heart…
It Pays to Pay Well for Medicaid
This study came out a while ago, from ICYMI. The research team called up primary care practices and tried to make appointments for Medicaid patients. When states raised reimbursement rates, it became easier: Health insurance doesn’t do much good when patients can’t find doctors willing to accept crappy reimbursement.
Doctor Knows Best?
Here is a write-up of a talk I recently gave at the NIH. The topic is a good one, about doctors and decision making and all that crap. But the real importance of linking you to the story is to find out if you hate my sport coat as much as my wife does. It…
Will Lowering The Price Of Genetic Testing Raise The Cost Of Medical Care?
The first time scientists sequenced a person’s entire genome, it took more than a decade and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Currently, such sequencing takes less than twenty-four hours and costs less than $5,000: To put that into perspective, Myriad Genetics charges $3,000 to test for mutations in just two genes associated with breast…