Medical students advocate for Medicare for All
By Scott Swartz for Berkeley Blog This post was written by and on behalf of the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program chapter of Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP), which advocates for the adoption of a single-payer, universal health system in the United States. At the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program (JMP), our instructors […]
Single mother goes from traffic stop to bench warrant to jail over unpaid medical bill: ‘It just isn’t right’
By Jerry Davich for Chicago Tribune Melissa Welch-Latronica had no idea why she got pulled over by a Valparaiso police officer earlier this month. He informed her that she failed to affix her 2019 sticker to her license plate. She apologized and handed him her driver’s license. Then she waited, and waited. She noticed a […]
Nearly half of adults with heart disease can’t afford their medical bills
Study by Yale University More than 45% of non-elderly adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) report financial hardship due to the associated medical bills, according to a Yale research team. Worse still, about one in five report being unable to pay those medical bills at all, said the researchers. This study appears in the Journal […]
New medical bankruptcy study: Two-thirds of filers cite illness and medical bills as contributors to financial ruin
Researchers found no evidence that the ACA reduced the proportion of bankruptcies driven by medical problems; insurance offered little protection to middle-class Americans. By David U. Himmelstein, M.D, Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H and Clare Fauke for PNHP Medical problems contributed to 66.5% of all bankruptcies, a figure that is virtually unchanged since before the passage […]
Insurance companies are supposed to be heartless. That’s why we need single-payer
Letters to the Editor in the Los Angeles Times To the editor: Michael Kinsley is arguably correct when he writes regarding the denial of coverage for people with preexisting conditions: “The insurance companies are not behaving like heartless monsters. They are behaving like insurance companies.” Well, they may or may not be monsters, but insurance […]
Big Pharma shells out $20B each year to schmooze docs, $6B on drug ads
Persuading doctors and direct-to-consumer ads land 1-2 punch for knockout sales. By Beth Mole for Ars Technica Talk with your doctor… It’s a common refrain at the end of any drug advertisement or disease awareness campaign. Ostensibly, it seems like a responsible suggestion. Talking with your own trusted doctor can help determine if a new […]
A $20,243 bike crash: Zuckerberg hospital’s aggressive tactics leave patients with big bills
I spent a year writing about ER bills. Zuckerberg San Francisco General has the most surprising billing practices I’ve seen. By Sarah Kliff for Vox On April 3, Nina Dang, 24, found herself in a position like so many San Francisco bike riders — on the pavement with a broken arm. A bystander saw her […]
US spending too much, getting too little out of health care
By Stu Alderman for Reno Gazette Journal I had to laugh at Sam Kumar’s Sunday article regarding “Medicare for All” (“Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez have a math problem,” Dec. 9). It was either that or cry. On the basis of two loosely defined numbers, Kumar comes to the conclusion that moving our medical system from its current hodgepodge of […]
Hospital Refuses Procedure, Prescribes ‘Fundraising Effort’ for Heart Transplant
By Jack Crosbie for Splinter News Here is an American story. Hedda Martin needs a heart transplant. She applied for a heart transplant. Shortly before Thanksgiving, the Spectrum Health Richard Devos Heart and Lung Transplant Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, got back to her to say that she could not have a heart transplant, because […]
Ex-UN chief Ban Ki-moon says US healthcare system is ‘morally wrong’
Exclusive: Former UN secretary general accuses ‘powerful’ health interests in the US of blocking universal healthcare By Jessica Glenza for The Guardian The former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon has denounced the United States’ healthcare system as politically and morally wrong, and urged American leaders to enact publicly financed healthcare as a “human right”. […]