Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “We need to stop simply clapping our hands in support of health workers — and start planning to create better workforce conditions for them. Let’s make improved health workforce scie…
Category: Public Health & Policy
Public health requires collective courage [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “To create a healthier, more just, and more equitable world, we must confront the truth, and that requires an act of collective courage. Perhaps there needs to be a whole new consciou…
Insurance companies deny medical care. And that’s wrong. [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “Securing prior authorizations is a daily ordeal for most doctors’ offices. Doctors report that, on average, they must get insurance company approvals 41 times every week. Of the auth…
Ending gun violence in America should be a no-brainer
Brain matter was spilling out the top of the patient’s head in the trauma bay. It doesn’t take a neurosurgeon to know that this is not normal. My pager screamed, “GSW to head – ED Room 1.” Gunshot wound to head – Emergency Department Room 1. As t…
Is our health care system based on untruths?
As Americans, we live in one of the most affluent countries in the world. Outwardly, many of our citizens seem to possess the necessities of life: shelter, food, job employment, and world-class health care. But what happens when we take a closer look? …
We must work harder to provide COVID relief to other countries
Currently, U.S. officials are considering expanding eligibility for the monkeypox vaccine. Yet, elsewhere, people are still struggling to get access to the COVID-19 vaccine. In many low-income countries, less than half of the population is fully vaccin…
A stark contract between American and Canadian health care
An excerpt from A Short Primer on Why Cancer Still Sucks. The United States has the world’s most expensive health care system. It spends about twice as much each year on every American as the Canadian system spends on Canadians. Per capita, the U…
Don’t let vindictiveness creep into medicine like it has in politics
The callous and inhumane dislocation of migrants recently perpetrated by governors of the states of Florida and Texas reminded me of an equally disdainful and appalling tactic utilized by health care workers since the 1960s: “Greyhound therapy.&#…
Patients come to you for treatment, not your politics
As he was being wheeled in for surgery, President Reagan joked, “I hope you are Republicans.” The surgeon, a liberal Democrat, replied, “Today, Mr. President, we are all Republicans.” All very appropriate and from another era. A…
The true story of a Hungarian Jewish man’s fight for freedom
An excerpt from Not A Real Enemy: The True Story of a Hungarian Jewish Man’s Fight for Freedom. The first signs that something terrible had happened were the lights. The hospital was brightly lit through every corridor. In communist Hungary, electricit…
