Russia’s use of tear gas, which has failed to generate headlines, may be the start of a creeping shift toward chemical attacks that would allow Russia to sow fear and uncertainty among Ukrainians without any international backlash.
Category: Policy
Punishing doctors for spreading misinformation
When I was in high school, I read George Orwell’s 1984, a novel about a dystopian future where the government (a.k.a. Big Brother) monitors everything the citizenry says or thinks. Anyone deviating from government “doublespeak” is swi…
Building individual health equity
Buying health insurance is a lot like renting an apartment. Finding the perfect place is hard, and the price is always higher than you expect. But if it is conveniently close to your employer and there are few other affordable options, you sign the le…
Medical malpractice is a lot like running a marathon
A medical malpractice process is a lot like running a marathon. The analogy makes it easy to understand why physicians are emotionally unready to go through years of litigation and often find themselves struggling. To successfully make it through the g…
Amazon, CVS, and Walmart are playing health care’s long game
In recent months, three of the nation’s largest retailers have stirred up a frenzy on Wall Street with a string of high-profile health care deals. Amazon bought primary-care company One Medical in early August for $3.9 billion. That was a month b…
TRICARE For All: Wrong For Iowa And America
Doctors can accept TRICARE’s lower rates because their practices also receive payments from private payers that fill the gap and keep their practices afloat.
Obamacare Open Enrollment Brings Election Day “Gift” To Voters
Last year, Obamacare sign-ups hit a record. The Biden administration is no doubt hoping for another one this year. And it doesn’t care if it has to spend tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to get it.
The national strategy on hunger, nutrition, and health offers hope
The announcement of the Biden-Harris Administration’s national strategy on hunger, nutrition, and health is a critical step toward building a healthier nation. For the first time in half a century, the administration announced more than $8 million in p…
Gun violence during residency: Run. Hide. Fight.
I no longer react to the chiming from my phone when a push notification alerts me of another mass shooting. I have become numb to such alarms. Perhaps it is the increasing frequency of these alerts or a feeling of inevitability, made even starker by my…
Practicing great medicine got a lot simpler. It’s health care that’s getting in the way.
We pay more than any other nation for health care, yet we have suffered the single biggest decline in life expectancy since WWII. Something went wrong. At a time of record inflation and rising taxes, isn’t it time we stopped to ask where the mone…
