Posted in Communism/Socialism, bioehtics, entrepreneurialism, health care, law, markets, medicare, politics, research discussion, wealth, tagged African, American, anti-lock brakes, Ashok Roy, automotive, BBC, Benz, budget, cardiology, competition, congress, consumer, contraception, costs, cruise control, death sentence, doctor, economics, electronic stability control, ESC, family doctor, frontier, general practitioner, government, Harvard, health care, Heritage Foundation, HHS, hospital, infrared camera, innovation, internist, James May, Jeremy Clarkson, laboratory, lobbyist, mainstream, marketplace, medical, medicare, MedPAC, Mercedes, metaphor, moratorium, mortality, night vision, nurse, orthopedic, patient, physician, privilege, prototype, public, Regina Herzlinger, research, Richard Hammond, rural, S-Class, safety, satnav, seatbelt, sedan, specialty hospital, status-quo, study, Top Gear, unfair competition, wealth on December 26, 2007 | 1 Comment »
There’s a really cool show on BBC America called “Top Gear.” It’s a witty, irreverent, brutally honest car show hosted by three dry-witted Brits: Jeremy Clarkson (blog here), Richard Hammond, and James May. Last season they road tested the new Mercedes S-Class (video clip). The S-Class is the big, expensive standard example [...]
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Posted in bioehtics, health care, psychology, tagged B.F. Skinner, Beth Israel Deaconess, bias, biases, Boston, cardiologist, cardiology, catheterization, CEO, Charlie Munger, diagnostic, doctor, examination, extinction, family doctor, gall bladder, generalist, hammer, Harvard, health care, heartbeat, hospital, insurance, internal medicine, judgment, kayak, Lincoln, mail, Mark Twain, Nebraska, nurse, Paul Levy, perspective, physician, primary care, stress test, The Psychology of Human Misjudgment on December 23, 2007 | 1 Comment »
A primary care physician’s job is to exercise judgment about what should be referred to a specialist. Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, recently wrote about his primary care doc “protecting” him from specialists. Mr. Levy was preparing for a kayaking trip and needed a physical exam to [...]
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Posted in Communism/Socialism, health care, insurance, law, markets, medicare, politics, research discussion, wealth, tagged AMA, American Medical Association, blog, budget, compensation, crisis, developed countries, doctor, economist, family medicine, formula, Freakonomics, GDP, government, Harvard, health, health care, hospital, incentive, interists, intern, internal medicine, market, med school, medical care, medicare, medicine, nurse, PCP, physician, post, preventative care, primary care, primary care physician, RBRVS, resident, RUC, Socialism, socialized medicine, specialist, student, William Hsiao on December 22, 2007 | 6 Comments »
A recent Health Care Blog Post explains the looming crisis in primary care. Some background: great health care systems are anchored by primary care physicians (PCPs), the generalist doctor whom your family depends upon for standard medical care. The PCP must have a workable basic knowledge of nearly all medical specialties and be able to [...]
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Posted in Communism/Socialism, bioehtics, health care, insurance, markets, misinformation/propaganda, politics, research discussion, tagged activism, blood clot, Canada, Canadian, CT, data, diagnostic, doctor, drugs, economics, embolism, famous, Frasier Institute, government, Harvard, health care, hosptial, medical, medicine, MRI, Nadeem Esmail, New England Journal of Medicine, non-partisan, patient, politics, pulmonary, rhetoric, single-payer, Socialism, Steffie Woolhandler, surgery, treatment on December 16, 2007 | 1 Comment »
In September 2003, Harvard Medical Professor Dr. Steffie Woolhandler had this to say in the New England Journal of Medicine: “A large sum might be saved in the United States if administrative costs could be trimmed by implementing a Canadian-style health care system.”
While I’m sure Dr. Woolhandler is a brilliant clinician and activist, I firmly [...]
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Posted in bioehtics, health care, insurance, law, medicare, misinformation/propaganda, politics, research discussion, tagged agriculture, Al Gore, AMA, American, American Medical Association, An Inconvenient Truth, carbs, congress, consensus, diabetes, diet, diet-heart hypothesis, Dissociative Identity Disorder, doctor, Eat, environment, evidence, farmer, fat, FDA, food pyramid, global warming, government, Harvard, health, health care, heart disease, insulin, lobbyists, medicare, Men's Health, misinformation, MSNBC, myth, National Potato Council, Nina Teicholz, nutrition, obesity, potato, Richard Lindzen, saturated, science, sellout, starch, USDA, Walter Willett on December 13, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Two posts ago, I attacked Medicare. In my last post, I pointed out how budget cuts have all but destroyed the effectiveness of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. In this post, I’m going to talk about the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in another chapter about what happens when citizens entrust their health [...]
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