Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
The following list of phrases and their definitions might help you understand the mysterious language of science and medicine. These special phrases are also applicable to anyone working on a Ph.D. dissertation or academic paper anywhere! “It has long been known” = I didn’t look up the original reference. “A definite trend is evident” =…
I recently received an email from the Patient Privacy Rights organization. They are conducting a campaign to protect the privacy of individual’s prescription drug information. According to their website, a Newsday article reports the following: Randee Lonergan filled her prescriptions at the same pharmacy for years. But a month ago she was shocked to find…
The latest edition of the Health Wonk Review is up at Roy Poses, MD.’s Health Care Renewal blog.
Are married people more likely to be obese than single individuals? More to the point, does being married cause obesity? Married individuals are generally older than never-married individuals and since age is correlated with obesity, there could be a spurious relationship between marriage and obesity. One may think that married individuals are not on the…
Maggie Mahar has a interesting post discussing the Swiss health care system (“Herzlinger’s Meme on Switzerland and Consumer Driven Medicine“). The Swiss government mandates that all individuals purchase health insurance. While the insurance is subsidized by the government–and more heavily subsidized for poor Swiss individuals–most Swiss pay a large percentage of their insurance premiums. The…
In February of 2007, the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) recommended reform to Britain’s current Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS). The PPRS sets maximum and minimum profit levels from the sale of branded drugs to the NHS. The PPRS allows companies freedom to set prices as they please on new substances, but restricts subsequent…
The incapacity benefit system in the UK is intended to provide an income support for those unable to work. Like any government program, many of the beneficiaries are in dire need of the money and are truly unable to work, but many other individuals who are able–but not inclined–to work have taken advantage of government…
“On the biggest shopping weekend of the year, you’ll know the price of the big-screen TV and the Wii you’re about to buy – but you’ll likely be in the dark about the cost of any health care you need.” Two Wisconsin state senators are trying to change this. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (“…Health cost…
The Thanksgiving edition of the Cavalcade of Risk is up at Colorado Health Insurance Insider.
The simple answer for this is that calorie intake is higher than the number of calories burned. But why are people getting fatter? In which countries are people the fattest? This is the questioned tackle in a working paper by Sara Bleich and colleagues “Why is the Developed World Obese?” Obesity is a serious disease:…