health care costs
Another Hospital Billing Trap
We needed a X-ray to rule-out a fracture so opted for an urgent-care center, which did it quickly and efficiently. As the three employees closed up shop for the day, I reflected on how urgent-care centers filled a perfect niche between the ER and the impossibility of snagging an immediate orthopedic appointment. But this is health care in America, and nothing ever closes up tidily. Two weeks later a bill arrived…. More
Even with lawsuits and co-pay caps, will Insulin ever be affordable?
The sausage-making of how insulin is priced is not for the faint of heart. I’m a physician, not an economist. But the diagnosis seems plain as day: greed. Once we’ve allowed health care to be an economic entity like mobile phones, sports cars, and jewelry, all players with fingers in the pie will extract as much money from the process as the market will bear. More
The Impressive Profits of Nonprofit Hospitals
Seven of the ten most profitable hospitals in America are nonprofit hospitals. Is this an oxymoron? The real question surrounding nonprofit hospitals is whether the benefits to the community equal what taxpayers donate to these hospitals in the form of tax-exempt status. More
Ethics of Money in Medicine
Just because money is a reality in medicine, doesn’t mean that we have to blindly accept all the consequences. There is a code of ethics in medicine. More
The Small Costs
We all hear about “health care costs,†a lumbering behemoth that dominates the news. But it is the smaller amounts, literally the pocket money, that often has the strongest effect on the concrete currency of health. Sometimes doctors find themselves in the position of offering their patients a few dollars to help with a co-pay or transportation home. More
Doctors Blame Others for Medical Costs
If doctors feel that the grind of medicine is just going to get worse, then they won’t have any stake in making major changes. You can present all the data you want but it doesn’t have a chance when stacked up against emotion and experience. More
Patient 1, Society 0
A young, healthy patient called me recently requesting a CT scan of his head because of his headaches. He described his symptoms, and they sounded to me like migraines. His clinical picture was not suggestive of a brain tumor and I told him so, but he was persistent. “What if I’m the one 35-year-old who drops dead of a brain tumor while you try to figure out what’s wrong?†he asked. More
Solving the Health Care Crisis
Status quo is a powerful determinant of both belief and behavior. This is why incumbents win elections, why we always choose the same flavor of yogurt, why we prescribe the same antihypertensive medications, and why we have our health care system in America. More
