What with the uncertainty of the Obama Administration’s health-care reform and the increasing cost of medical care, few areas of U.S. commerce are as volatile as health insurance. But one segment of that industry is decidedly popular, although it’s fraught with “what-ifs.” In one year, between January 2010 and January 2011, high-deductible insurance plans grew….
Continue ReadingArchives for May 2012
Who Cares If It Works, I Have a Coupon!
Who doesn’t like a good deal? The popularity of Groupon, the online deal-of-the-hour/day/week service has spawned a whole family of mimics. Unfortunately, suggests Gary Schwitzer on Health News Review, it’s a dysfunctional family when it comes to dubious medical treatments. In the space of mere days, irresistible deals were available for: laser toenail fungus treatment;….
Continue ReadingMore Clarity for Who and How Often on Mammograms
Since 2009, when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force threw a grenade into the “mammograms for everyone” approach to women’s care, researchers, doctors and women have been wondering just who should get a mammogram, when and how frequently. As widely reported last week, the results of new studies are helping to tease out the variables….
Continue ReadingThe Ugly Underbelly of the Blockbuster Drug Pradaxa
If you think the word “blockbuster” is reserved for popular entertainment like “Game of Thrones,” you probably don’t need to take a blood thinner. Such drugs are prescribed to people at risk of stroke from conditions such as atrial fibrillation (irregular, rapid heart rate). In Pharma Land, the drug Pradaxa is considered a blockbuster, or….
Continue ReadingI’m Sick! I Read It on the Web!
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So said the 18th century’s Alexander Pope in “An Essay on Criticism.” So said, in so many words, the 19th century’s T.H. Huxley in “On Elementary Instruction Physiology.” So said the 20th century’s Albert Einstein, who added a second sentence, “So is a lot.” Each of these people….
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