Category: Policy

Private equity in gastroenterology: Is it the future?

An excerpt from Private Equity in Gastroenterology: Navigating the Next Wave. A long time ago, gastroenterologists ran solo or small group practices. Despite the myriad challenges of running a medical business, doctors enjoyed the independence that pri…

The problem with burning health insurance down

Let’s burn health insurance down. Greedy corporate bastards should burn. Big Pharma and big hospitals should probably burn too. You know who else is really, really, bad? Wall Street. Let’s burn the banks. And let’s burn Big Tech and the entire Silicon …

What’s wrong with health care, and do we have the will to change?

Our health care system is in crisis and needs significant change. So, I was excited to read Dr. Lisa Rosenbaum’s great February 2019 three-part series in the New England Journal of Medicine and accompanied round table about teamwork in health car…

What’s wrong with health care, and do we have the will to change?

Our health care system is in crisis and needs significant change. So, I was excited to read Dr. Lisa Rosenbaum’s great February 2019 three-part series in the New England Journal of Medicine and accompanied round table about teamwork in health car…

Our broken health system is your fault

“I don’t know what happened” is probably one of the most common phrases any parent hears. Last weekend, while wrapping my son’s bleeding head in gauze from our first aid kit, this was the best explanation my daughter could muster as to why her two-year…

Nurses are striking. Where are the physicians?

The U.S. health care “system” is completely and utterly broken. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. system ranks 37th in the world, all while spending dramatically more on health care than other wealthy countries. Ten…

In a single-payer system, who will be doing the rationing?

One of the arguments made against adopting single-payer health care in this country is that it would “lead to rationing.” This assumes that we lucky people in the U.S. have unlimited access to whatever health care we need and are at risk of losing it. …

Medicare for all doesn’t look like single payer in the rest of the world

Recent polls show a majority of Americans support Medicare for all, but few seem to realize that no other system in the world operates like the current single payer proposals in Congress. Recently, I addressed the concept of single-payer health care, w…

What do organized crime and health care have in common?

During college and medical school, my summer employment acquainted me with members of organized crime families. Now, reflecting on my full career as a primary care clinician, geriatrician, and researcher on health care delivery improvement, I have disc…

What volunteering during a crisis taught this medical student

“Were you on the hurricane emails this weekend?” This was not the question I expected to start the week. I came to Raleigh, North Carolina to spend part of my fourth year of medical school as special assistant to Dr. Mandy Cohen, the secret…