Climate change. Global warming. The greenhouse effect. Devastating wildfires, dangerous air quality. Catastrophic weather events and mass human migration. It all sounds like post-apocalyptic fiction except that it’s real. Inside our air-condition…
Category: Policy
The biggest addiction problem in the U.S.? Health insurance.
Whenever I give a talk about health care, I ask the audience, “What is the worst addiction problem we have in the United States?” The answers are typically the same, and all are good guesses — alcohol, tobacco, opiates, and sugar are most frequently ci…
How we can help our veterans die in peace
The World War II veteran, now in his 90s and receiving hospice for end-of-life care, was playing military anthems on his harmonica for fellow veterans. But the next minute, reliving the horrors of combat, he grew agitated and started to cry. “Oh, all …
The barriers to patients choosing higher-value providers and insurers
Next in a series. I have developed a framework, which I call the Healthcare Incentives Framework, that helps me understand health care systems. It outlines the jobs we expect a health care system to do for us and identifies which parties in the health …
Health coverage really isn’t covering much
I’m a healthy 48-year old, ASA physical class I anesthesiologist. At least I was healthy until an unintentional 20-pound weight loss over the summer, accompanied by an unquenchable thirst, insatiable appetite, blurry vision, and the bathroom freq…
How to structure financial incentives in our health care system
Next in a series. In my previous post, I explained the basics of my Healthcare Incentives Framework, which enumerates the jobs we want a health care system to do for us and links them to the parties in the health care system that have the greatest ince…
Parallel thinking won’t solve problems in health care
A lot of media attention, including television, print, and online sources, is focused on various plans to revolutionize the delivery of health care in America. Critics point to medical errors, waste of resources, and lack of access among the numerous …
An analysis of Joe Biden’s health plan
If the Democrats capture the White House, keep the House and take over the Senate, no matter who they elect as president, this Biden health care outline, not Medicare for all, will likely be the plan Democrats embrace in 2021. The Biden health care pro…
A framework for understanding health care systems
First in a series. Way back as a business strategy undergrad and then as a medical student, I developed a framework for understanding health care systems. I call it the Healthcare Incentives Framework, and I believe it clarifies the big-picture compone…
When we ignore a child’s preventable suffering, we lose a piece of our humanity
Sometimes an image captures the heart of a nation by putting a face on a human crisis. The one of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his 2-year-old daughter Valeria lying face down in the Rio Grande after drowning was powerful. Their family had been …
