Category: Public Health & Policy

Would Medicare for all help us combat COVID-19?

In 2009, when more than $35 billion was invested in expanding national electronic health record (EHR) uptake, one of many advantages touted was its value as a tool for managing population health. This promise has failed to materialize due to a chaotic …

What’s to blame for the obesity epidemic?

Obesity is a topic that literally hits home for me.  For the past two years, the website WalletHub has voted the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission TX metroplex as the “fattest city in America.”  As a health care provider, this is deeply disturbing because it pu…

Telehealth: Get ready for big changes in health care

The year 2020 might bear witness to a significant shift in control of health care from the providers, insurers, and the government to actual health care consumers. First, it was the politicians, then the tech conferences and promises of 5G, and now glo…

Who are responsible for outrageous medical bills? Hint: It’s not doctors.

Over the last few years, there has been a slew of articles about patients receiving surprise bills after ER visits. One woman was charged $5,751 for an ice pack and a bandage. An infant was charged $937 for an antibiotic ointment. Who sends bills like …

Reclaiming the future of health care

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD. Although I work for the American College of Physicians, I’m writing this as a general internist who has practiced both primary care and hospital-based medicine for over 25 year…

Why doctors should get political

I became a physician to help people. So isn’t fighting for issues that help protect my patients such as racial equality, LGBTQ rights, gender pay equity, access to health care, and education all part of patient care? Don’t my patients want …

Health insurer: I want my 8 hours and 6 minutes back

February is a short month. Even this year with leap day. So short. Maybe that is why I am so mad at what Company X did to me. My health insurance company stole eight hours and six minutes from me in February. I will never get it back. This is my story …

Health care and sick care are interchangeable

Does anyone really want health care for all? I promise this is not a political rant. Americans, of any political persuasion, should not be misled by the implications of health care for all: It does not mean medical care for all. Providing a card statin…

Gun violence requires medical intervention

109. This is the number of people who died each day from firearms in the U.S. in 2017, the most recent year for which the CDC has published data. It is a staggering number, one that deeply damages the fabric of communities and tears families apart. Wha…

Supporters of Obamacare should consider this Trump proposal

Readers of my articles know that no one has been more critical of Obamacare’s flaws––particularly over the impact the program has had on middle-class consumers in the individual health insurance market. And, readers already know that no one has b…