MetaFilter posts tagged with healthcare and medicine

He says every patient is a golden trout. We need to go get those trout.

parudox — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:53:57 -0800

The Deadly Cost of Swooping In to Save a Life (single-page version): Deregulation and America's health care system combine to make medical helicopters increasingly dangerous.

A very good article on health care economics

kliuless — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:40:28 -0800

How American Health Care Killed My Father After the needless death of his father, the author, a business executive, began a personal exploration of a health-care industry that for years has delivered poor service and irregular quality at astonishingly high cost. It is a system, he argues, that is not worth preserving in anything like its current form. And the health-care reform now being contemplated will not fix it. Here’s a radical solution to an agonizing problem. (via mr) BONUS -Health Care Spending and PCE -Consumer Driven Health Care Plans -4 Points on Health Care -A Public Option Isn't a Curse, or a Cure [also btw Thaler vs. Posner] -'A Plan to Swissify America' (P.Krugman) -Why We Need Health Care Reform (B.Obama) -Health 2.0 could shock the system (E.Dyson) -Mont. Clinic Aims to Deliver Top-quality Care for Less -Cleveland Clinic Chief: Lower Care Costs Must Be Focus in Reform Efforts -Healthcare lessons -The world's worst healthcare reforms

A rational conservative solution for health care reform

reenum — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:29:33 -0800

E.D. Kain with a moderate conservative solution to the health care crisis

Where do you get your health insurance from?

sid abotu — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:25:54 -0800

A simple question shows how complex the issue is. Chris at "Cynical C" asks his fellow citizens where they get thier health care (insurance) from and the incredible diversity of the current options and situations is immediately apparent. Quite spontaneously (but surely not unexpectedly), the question of "How much does it cost you?" becomes an essential part of the answers. Outsiders opine and tell stories and commiserate. For further information regarding the issue and the forces at work this Canadian has leaned on Bill Moyers and The Daily Howler.

Why We Must Ration Health Care

grouse — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:16:03 -0800

Why We Must Ration Health Care by Peter Singer.

Threatening the merc's way of life

boo_radley — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:32:39 -0800

Debate over government-funded services heats up. [SLSO]

Healthcare costs and quality of care

zinfandel — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:11:46 -0800

The Cost Conundrum: What a Texas town can teach us about health care. Via Musings of a Distractible Mind.

Can We Cure the Health Care Crisis?

kliuless — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:43:26 -0800

Search for an Rx - We asked Johns Hopkins administrators, physicians, and researchers about the health of a system Americans rely on to keep them healthy. Afterall, an ounce of prevention...

Can we improve quality while driving costs down? As contradictory as the notion might seem, there is a precedent for doing better work at a lower cost. "The thing that is so hard for people to understand, but that was proven in the auto industry, is that when you focus on cutting costs, you automatically reduce quality. But when you focus on increasing quality, as we've done with safety measures here at Hopkins, you almost always reduce cost. It's counterintuitive," Brody says.

and in addition to finance (and the auto industry) it's probably also applicable to education as well...

What's wrong with primary care in the US?

Slarty Bartfast — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:01:41 -0800

What's wrong with primary care in the US? With a new survey suggesting that nearly half of all primary care physicians would leave medicine if they had a viable alternative, and with American medical schools not generating nearly enough new doctors going into primary care, in this, their first issue to hit doctors' desks since the election, the New England Journal of Medicine has devoted their entire editorial section to exploring yet another challenge that threatens the stability of the US health care system. Video of the roundtable discussion. Individual essays, at times touching, at times hopeful, from various primary care perspectives in the US and Britain. Comments under the video link are particularly interesting. With its eye on the election, the otherwise fairly dry New England Journal has been increasingly political as of late. I know, I already GMOFB, but I think the NEJM is doing a fantastic job of hosting a nuanced discussion of complex issues and this seems post worthy to me.

The Prognosis, Doc?

Weebot — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:28:21 -0800

Two years since Massachusetts instituted major statewide healthcare reform, the statistics are coming in. 340,000 residents, roughly half the state's previously uninsured, are now insured. The state says that 95% of its population is now covered, based on Department of Revenue estimates. However, a large portion of them are enrolled through state-subsidized insurance programs, and those program's rate of enrollment have far outpaced estimates. This has led lawmakers to forsee a budget shortfall. Premiums and co-pays are going up, cigarette taxes have increased, and a cost control proposal is making its way through the legislature. Assessments have been all over the map.

Hi, everybody, eh!

jtron — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:26:25 -0800

An analysis of the medical care provided to the family of Homer J. Simpson from the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Ibn Rushid Psychiatric Hospital

homunculus — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:32:45 -0800

Decline of an Iraqi Hospital: War Takes Toll on Baghdad Psychiatric Hospital. [Via Mind Hacks]

Sick Around the World

aheckler — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:16:23 -0800

Sick Around the World, the newest documentary piece produced by PBS's Frontline asks: "Can the U.S. learn anything from the rest of the world about how to run a health care system?" Having previously shared a Pulitzer Prize with The New York Times, and produced such quality programs as Bush's War, this should be well worth a mere hour of your time.

The Winning Numbers are 14, 46, 23, 49, and 22.

Weebot — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:14:23 -0800

The state of Oregon is holding a health insurance lottery where 91,000 hopeful enrollees will be competing for a couple thousand spots under the Oregon Health Plan, the state's Medicaid program. OHP was created to cover those who made too much to enroll in traditional Medicaid but too little to afford market healthcare, and this development comes as a result of budget cuts and a subsequent enrollment closure in July of 2004. It's a far cry from the universal health care coverage that the plan was suppose to lead to, and marks a dramatic turn for the state's once-ambitious health care reforms.

(Previously in dystopic health care developments)

Mythbusting Canadian Health Care

homunculus — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:11:03 -0800

Mythbusting Canadian Health Care, Part I. Part II: Debunking the Free Marketeers. [Via Orcinus.]

Health Care and Innovation

homunculus — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:05:37 -0800

Creative Destruction: The Best Case Against Universal Health Care. [Via The Mahablog.]

Closer to the heart

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 02:42:21 -0800

"In 2003, Americans spent an estimated US$5,635 per capita on health care, while Canadians spent US$3,003... Canada’s single-payer system, which relies on not-for-profit delivery, achieves health outcomes that are at least equal to those in the United States at two-thirds the cost." What do wealthy, educated Americans living in Canada think?

Cancer Cure Patented

TravisJeffery — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:33:14 -0800

Cancer Cure Patented A group of researchers claim that they are patenting a possible cure for cancer involving nothing more than sugar and short-chain fatty acid combination.

How Democrats can make themselves useful.

homunculus — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 15:51:51 -0800

The Health Care Crisis and What to Do About It. Is it time to socialize medicine in the US?

Coverage with Evidence Development

ikkyu2 — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 13:04:06 -0800

Coverage with Evidence Development. Never heard of it? Me neither, until today. It's what they call this idea: if you want to be covered by Medicare, you're forced to participate in medical research. The AMA approves (article abstract only). So much for informed consent.

Med students who wake up this morning will learn....

narebuc — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 21:49:14 -0800

Today, about 17,000 American medical students and almost as many foreign trained doctors learn what types of doctors they will be. Yes, it’s Match Day. Ok, while most people probably could care less about this post, it presents an intriguing look into the forces (i.e. how the ratio between specialists and generalists arises and to note: more specialists equals more procedures and costlier health care) that shape American health care today. And, it represents the strange culmination of years of study (at least 8+ years after high school) that many students take just to leave it up to a strange algorithm that is under a anti-trust lawsuit as they wake up one day in March and learn where they will be spending the next (at least) three years of their life. Also, if you see a recent graduate of an "ADORE+P" residency -- Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Orthopedics/Optho, Radiology, ENT/Emergency Room medicine (plus, of course, Plastic surgery) -- (the professions that work great hours and make the most money) -- congratulate her or him on being the best (statistically) of the crop.

Which are the better hospitals?

daksya — Sat, 02 Apr 2005 19:08:48 -0800

Hospital Compare: which are the better hospitals in your area?

Should a doctor be able to refuse to help patients?

amberglow — Fri, 17 Sep 2004 19:33:52 -0800

Conscience Clauses and Health Care --"Yes, we need to respect individual freedom of religion. But at what point does it cross the line of not providing essential medical care? At what point is it malpractice?" she asked. "If someone's beliefs interfere with practicing their profession, perhaps they should do something else." The Protection of Conscience Project feels differently: Protection of Conscience Laws are needed because powerful interests are inclined to force health care workers and others to participate, directly or indirectly, in morally controversial procedures, while NARAL says: ... Many of these clauses go far beyond respecting individuals' beliefs to the point of harming women by not providing them with full information or access to medical treatment. Medicine, not ideology, should determine medical decisions.

What are we so afraid of?

PigAlien — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 20:39:47 -0800

The number of health-related deaths in the United States in 2000 was over 1 million. The United States spends $13.6BN per year on ALL medical research. For $100BN-$200BN could we save 110,000 more people each year from health-related deaths? High end estimates of homelessness put the number around 3.5 million in the United States. For $30,000 each (100B/3.5M) we could house, feed and provide vocational training for every homeless person. Alternatively, we could provide $2,500 per year for insurance to each person without health care.

onegoodmove — Sat, 13 Apr 2002 11:45:38 -0800

Investigating the Power of Prayer
"According to Targ, the prayed-for patients had fewer and less severe new illnesses, fewer doctor visits, fewer hospitalizations and were generally in better moods than those in the control group."
Mayo Clinic researchers have found no such connection. They reported last month that in their trials of distant prayer on 750 coronary patients, they found no significant effect. Why the difference?"