Category: Washington Watch

Every doctor should have a plan B. Here’s why.

I’ve written previously that financial independence is plan B.  Plan A, of course, is life.  Your work and time are precious, and life is too short to be wading through a morass of unhappiness only to get to some endpoint or goal. While I definitely believe in front-loading the sacrifice, the cost should not have to be […]

Balancing stewardship and entitlement in health care

Today’s news is full of commentary about work requirements for Medicaid. Is work a prerequisite for health care or is health a prerequisite for work? Not to complicate things, but can we even agree on what health care is? I don’t think we can, and it largely falls back on what we want to share […]

Medicare’s historic proposal to change how it pays physicians

The word “historic” is often used by PR professionals to hype something that is, well, pretty run-of-the-mill.  They figure that no one is going to read a news release that announces “[Name of organization] proposes small change that really won’t make much of a difference.”  The problem is that when something is done that really […]

Make a commitment to ask patients about firearms

Author’s note: My personal reflection about the Sutherland Springs mass shooting was written before the horrific events at Stoneman Douglas High School and Santa Fe High School. The chorus of voices has only increased in amplitude regarding the calls to responsible action on firearm safety. While a larger debate continues in Washington, DC, I ask […]

To give good value, Medicaid needs help

Medicaid — the program that provides funding for adults, seniors (along with Medicare), children and people who are blind or disabled who can’t pay for their own health care — is expensive. It is painfully expensive. The program, along with CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program), marketplace subsidies and Medicare is responsible for 25 percent […]

Political polarization is harming America’s health

On May 15, President Trump attempted to kill not just two, but three birds with one tweet, simultaneously denouncing the Media and the Mueller investigation, and crowing about his approval ratings. “Can you believe that with all of the made up, unsourced stories I get from the Fake News Media, together with the $10,000,000 Russian […]

Why guns should be tracked and studied

A relative taught me to drive in a burgundy Lincoln Town Car in an empty Long Island parking lot in the 1980s. After emphasizing the need to practice driving in reverse, he also warned: “A car is a weapon. You can kill someone, or get killed, in an instant.” I am a safer driver (forwards […]

Separating children at the border is a danger to their health

Fair and just societies protect children. The Trump administration’s unconscionable practice of separating children from their families at the border between Mexico and the United States is making me rethink what kind of society I live in. The images and the stories are heartbreaking. In an effort to deter families from migrating to the United States, reports say the […]

Bullying immigrant children in the name of politics

We’ve all seen the news and heard the stories about children being separated from their parents as they cross over the U.S. border. The pictures of human beings, including very young children, behind wire mesh (some argue that they are not really cages) is simply horrifying. Over the past decades, we have seen atrocities happening […]

5 reasons to get involved in organized medicine

The following are intended to inspire to medical students and residents to learn more about organized medicine. Whether it be at the national, state, county, or specialty level, there are numerous societies with opportunities for contribution. 1. To pull back the curtain. Many physicians are innately curious and like to “see how the sausage is […]