Health and Sanity category archive
Paying the Health Care Ransom 0
In The Denver Post, Colorado Lieutenant Governor Diane Primavera explores the high cost of American health care and argues that it really doesn’t have much to do with the cost of caring for persons’ health. A snippet:
(snip)
So if all the money we spend on health care isn’t making us healthier, then where is all the money actually going?
The short answer is that it’s going to the middlemen — insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and hospitals — whose business model is to act as a tollbooth standing in between patients and caregivers like doctors and nurses.
Follow the link for her evidence.
And, in related news . . . .
Epidemiology, One More Time 0
William Haseltine digs into the question if why, when the flu by the numbers is clearly much more dangerous, so many persons are wigging out over the coronavirus. Here’s part of what he has to say; follow the link for the rest.
Why does the 2019-nCoV outbreak rile our fears so? The discrepancy has to do with how humans perceive risks. Novel threats provoke anxiety in a way that everyday threats do not, triggering a fear response that begins with the part of the brain known as the amygdala and travels via activation of “fight or flight” motor functions throughout the body.
While this evolutionarily honed instinct for the unfamiliar and foreboding can sharpen the senses—a sort of physiological priming for confrontation with a predator—it can also confuse the mind.
Epidemiology 0
Robert Barholomew warns us not to be blinded by the panicky news coverage and even more panicky “social” media “shares” about the Coronavirus. Here’s some excerpts:
During the 2018-2019 flu season in the United States, about 75% of all deaths were age 65+. Roughly 17% were between 50-64. These two categories comprise 91% of all deaths. But look closer and you will see that many of them had an array of pre-existing conditions that left them with weakened immune systems. Early reports from China back this up, most of those who have died were already in poor health.
(snip)
There is a real danger that social media will spread fear and confusion.
Read the whole thing and inoculate yourself against hysterical hype.
Bill and Shoe 0
At $589 for a second, that comes to an hourly rate of $2,129,400.
Health Scare 0
Wendell Potter predicts the tactics health insurers will use to fight against anything that looks like “Medicare for all.” A snippet:
A Case of Health Some-Call-It Insurance 0
David discusses increases in the cost of his health coverage and explains why free market concepts don’t apply to health care.
Oblivious to the Obvious 0
How should one react when studies prove the obvious?
“The New Gotchas” 0
Thom discusses the latest medical scam: Surprise Billing.
Picking the Public Purse 0
Thom explains the “Medicare disAdvantage” scam.
HMOtrocity 0
Aside:
In retrospect, I’ve concluded that the more to HMO-style health care that started in the 1970s and 1980s as the way to “fix” American heath care was a big mistake. It effectively put American health care under the control of insurance companies, which are incentivized, as the neologism goes, to provide as little actual care as possible, and removed it from medical professionals, most of whom (and yes there is the occasional glaring exception) care about caring.