The last thing Americans need to fret about as they struggle to keep down medical costs is worrying about getting hit with a surprise bill for a ride in an ambulance. Just how ridiculous can those bills be? Think thousands of bucks for a few miles. The independent and nonpartisan Kaiser Health News service and….
Continue ReadingPain
Overzealous youth athletics can result in hobbled adults later
Here’s another painful reminder to grownups about youngsters and sports: Moderation matters, and youthful games are supposed to fun, diverting, and character building—and most definitely should not leave today’s aspiring athletes as tomorrow’s hobbled adults. The New York Times has reported on what a pediatric sports medicine expert has described as a “dirty little secret”….
Continue ReadingIn an opioid drug crisis, urine testing becomes an $8.5 billion business
With opioid drugs now the leading cause of death for Americans 50 and younger and killing more than 64,000 people last year, was it inevitable that some shady characters are profiteering off the miseries of those struggling to get off potent painkillers? And is it predictable that key politicians keep talking big but still haven’t….
Continue ReadingFederal, state officials targeting anew EpiPen safety, soaring insulin costs
Big Pharma’s rapacious profit-seeking can seem to hit no bounds, even if it afflicts millions: Just consider what federal and state regulators are mulling about the makers of a popular anti-allergy therapy and those who supply a critical diabetes medication. The federal Food and Drug Administration has replied to Bloomberg News Service that, so far,….
Continue ReadingWhy are doctors and hospitals so quick to turn to heart stents and robotic devices?
Hundreds of thousands of times each year, doctors install stents (tiny wire cages) in blocked heart arteries, not only to provide better blood flow to the body’s most important muscle but also ostensibly to provide pain relief to patients. Surgeons also perform tens of thousands of different, minimally invasive procedures with the help of elaborate….
Continue ReadingAs breast cancer patients know, over-testing and over-treatment are big woes
Up to a third of medical spending goes for over-treatment and over-testing, with an estimated $200 billion in the U.S. expended on medical services with little benefit to patients. But getting doctors and hospitals to stop this waste isn’t easy, nor is it a snap to get patients to understand what this problem’s all about….
Continue ReadingTrillions in tax cuts for the rich, pennies to fight the opioid drug crisis
As the Republican-controlled Congress rams through a national budget and a package of changes to the tax system, President Trump and his partisans are staying true to course. They’re determined to slash taxes for the rich, even if they only half-heartedly tackle one of the biggest public health crises in decades, and if they inflict….
Continue ReadingShame and blame in a lame nomination for drug policy chief
Some powerful political players deserve a big dose of public condemnation for bungling and stalling the nation’s desperately needed war on the epidemic abuse of opioid drugs. President Trump can step up for the first of a series of smacks for nominating yet another dubious candidate for one of the nation’s high offices—in this case….
Continue ReadingBig Insurance ripped for fueling opioid drug epidemic
The epidemic of opioid drug abuse, which increasingly is claiming children’s lives, has plenty of blameworthy causes. Here’s a new one: health insurers which steer patients to cheaper, more addictive painkillers while playing Scrooge for less addictive but pricier alternatives. Pro Publica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalism site, and the New York Times get credit for….
Continue ReadingRavages of opioid drug abuse epidemic worsen, grow ever more complex
The myriad problems tied to the nation’s opioid drug abuse epidemic seem only to worsen and grow more complex by the day. They are, recent news reports say: contributing to new outbreaks of syphilis, a destructive and deadly sexually transmitted disease that is tough to contain and whose cases had dwindled until fairly recently; leading….
Continue Reading