Category: Public Health & Policy

The primary care solution is obvious, but don’t expect policymakers to jump on board

In a shocking development that could transform the medical profession, the International Journal of Health Services published the findings of a study titled, “Primary care, specialty care, and life chances.” Using multiple regression analysis, the rese…

These leaders will not fix health care

We constantly argue about how to fix the U.S. health care system. But what we must understand is that the most important issue isn’t how to fix health care. The issue is how to get our Congress, the President, and the health care industry to allow anyt…

What is “fair” payment for medical services?

I write this hoping to appeal to common sense. When are we going to stop putting the cart before the horse? 99 percent of the rhetoric surrounding health care costs centers on a “fair” way to pay for it, “fair” reimbursement levels, and who should pay …

One person’s wasteful medical spending is another person’s income

In a New York Times article, “The Huge Waste in the U.S. Health System,” it stated that the estimated waste is at least $760 billion per year: “That’s comparable to government spending on Medicare and exceeds national military spending, as well as tota…

Why this physician supports Medicare for all

Alexa Karsdan’s medical bill for a sore throat reached over $28,000. NPR told her story recently, but I want you to know why I am actually glad this happened. Why is it good news that her charges were so exorbitant, and that her insurance paid over twe…

Why generations need to talk to each other

The words of the year as 2019 ends appear to be “OK Boomer” and “woke.” To this Boomer, it appears that the younger generation is blaming us for all the evil in the world, from their perch of “woke” moral superiority. They consider us to be out of touc…

Obesity is America’s self-inflicted preexisting condition

Consuming too many potato latkes and Christmas cookies has left its mark on our waistlines. Unfortunately for Americans and their medical care, the seasonal overeating seems to last all year. Indeed, the American Medical Association has declared that o…

Does socialized medical care provide higher quality than private care?

Americans are not fans of socialized medicine. Sure, some people want socialized health care payment, including many people who are fans of Medicare for all. But even most Bernie Sanders supporters probably aren’t in favor of socializing the enti…

Your grocery cart on WIC

Karen smiled nervously, her swollen belly peeking out from under her stretched silver tank top. Six months pregnant with her first child, the eighteen-year-old had come to the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) office for help with getting enough to ea…

Only Biden, Bloomberg, and Buttigieg have health plans that have a realistic chance of becoming law

In an earlier post, I pointed out that there is no better chance of passing a Medicare for all health care plan through Congress in the coming years than there was in 1977, or 1993, or 2009. Then Elizabeth Warren showed us just how politically unrealis…