The Disappearing Doctor: How Mega-Mergers Are Changing the Business of Medical Care
Big corporations — giant retailers and health insurance companies — are teaming up to become your doctor. By Reed Abelson and Julie Creswell for The New York Times Is the doctor in? In this new medical age of urgent care centers and retail clinics, that’s not a simple question. Nor does it have a simple […]
Inside the medical device racket
Millions of Americans have under-regulated and overhyped devices in their bodies. By Martha Rosenberg for Intrepid Report Imagine a TV ad for a hip replacement device. Over scenes of the puppies and sunsets, a voiceover warns, “Hip replacements may cause tissue death, the destruction of muscles, bones and ligaments, nerve damage, mental changes, thyroid disorder, […]
I Treat Patients on Medicaid, and I See That Work Requirements Will Destroy the Safety Net
By Audrey M. Provenzano for Truthout As more states join Kentucky in trying to impose work requirements for people who receive Medicaid, I could not help but think of a patient of mine whom I’ll call Linda. Linda is a healthy 42-year-old woman who came in a few months ago with pain in her left foot. “Every […]
Whistleblowers Sue City’s Top Health Insurance Providers
By Brigid Bergin for WNYC Three whistleblowers representing New York City employees and retirees are suing the city’s top health insurance providers for defrauding taxpayers of more than a billion dollars. The lawsuit unsealed in New York Supreme Court last month alleges that GHI, along with parent company EmblemHealth and their partner, Empire Blue Cross […]
The most underrated argument for single-payer health care
By Ryan Cooper for The Week If there’s one constant in modern American life, it’s paperwork and bills — and it’s rarely worse than it is for health care. If you need some medical procedure, you are virtually guaranteed several hours of tedious form-filling, made much worse by the knowledge that if you mess up, […]
Media Embrace New ‘Reform’ Group as Bulwark Against Guaranteed Healthcare
By Justin Anderson for FAIR In recent years, there has been rapid growth in support for Medicare for All, a single-payer healthcare system that would guarantee the universal medical coverage that the Affordable Care Act failed to achieve with its passage in 2010. Sixty-four percent of Democrats support single-payer healthcare, while over half of Americans […]
Medicare for All Advocates Rip ‘Cynical and Dishonest’ Healthcare Initiative as Ploy to Undermine Single Payer
“The path already exists. The movement already exists. The political will exists. What’s lacking is a willingness to stand up for values that people already agree with for fear of alienating people like Bill Frist.” By Julia Conley for Common Dreams Medicare for All advocates on Wednesday denounced a new healthcare initiative introduced by a […]
Physician-industry relationships further cloud hypertension guideline
NOTE: Dr. Romano demonstrates the conflict that arises when health care is a for-profit industry. The bottom line is profit and one way to make a profit is to create more demand for your product. This is another reason that we need a national health program that has health as the bottom line so that […]