Elisabeth Rosenthal

Author's posts

The Checkup Is in the Mail? Soliciting Letter Carriers to Help Deliver Health Care

Here’s an out-of-the-box idea: Have letter carriers spend less time delivering mail and take time to perform home visits and basic health checks on the growing population of frail and elderly.

Analysis: Necessary or Not, Covid Booster Shots Are Probably on the Horizon

In today’s pharmaceutical universe, a simple “safe and effective” determination by the Food and Drug Administration to approve a drug can be manipulated to sell products of questionable value. And drugmakers can profit handsomely,

Why We May Never Know Whether the $56,000-a-Year Alzheimer’s Drug Actually Works

It could take years for follow-up studies to prove Aduhelm slows the disease — or doesn’t. Meanwhile, its maker will profit.

Analysis: Why We’ll Likely Never Know Whether a Covid Lab Leak Happened in China

If international scientific sleuths are hoping to see a lab log or find a whistleblower, that sort of information won’t be revealed. In China today, it is dangerous to say what you know if it challenges the official government narrative.

Telemedicine Is a Tool — Not a Replacement for Your Doctor’s Touch

The pandemic has demonstrated that virtual medicine is great for simple visits. But many new types of telemedicine promoted by start-ups more clearly benefit providers’ and investors’ pockets, rather than yielding more convenient, high-quality and cost-effective medicine for patients.

Analysis: I Was a Teenage Rifle Owner, Then an ER Doctor. Assault Weapons Shouldn’t Count as ‘Guns.’

The United States has undergone a cultural, definitional, practical shift on guns and what they are for.

Analysis: How the US Invested in the War on Terrorism at the Cost of Public Health

After 9/11, as our defenses against international and bioterrorism hardened, our defenses against infectious diseases shrank. By the time a deadly virus arrived on our shores last year, nearly two-thirds of Americans were living in counties that spend more than twice as much on policing as they spend on public health.

Analysis: The Trump Health Care Policies That Deserve to Stick Around

President Joe Biden may want to continue the previous administration’s efforts to lower drug prices and make medical costs transparent.

Beijing’s SARS Lockdown Taught My Children Resilience. Your Covid Kids Will Likely Be Fine.

Living through SARS taught my children important lessons, and not just about hygiene. It taught them how to make sacrifices for the sake of friends, family and community.

With Demand Far Exceeding Supply, It Matters That People Are Jumping the Vaccine Line

When hospital administrators and politicians’ spouses get immunized before people more at risk, it undermines confidence in the system.