A scandal of the U.S. health system may be far worse than imagined, with the medical debt sold to collection agencies alone amounting to a staggering $140 billion. The $140 billion estimate came from researchers who published in a medical journal and found that such unpaid sums had increased significantly from an $84 billion calculation….
Continue ReadingArchives for July 2021
Big Pharma is hard to rein in. Just look at two drug cases grabbing headlines.
Consumers have gotten eyebrow-raising views of Big Pharma’s ugly business practices and the tough and sometimes sketchy efforts to rein in the industry’s ravenous pursuit of profits — in settling claims over distributors inundating the country with lethal painkillers, or with a maker’s behind-the-scenes campaign to win U.S. approval of an Alzheimer’s medication based on….
Continue ReadingFor nursing homes, a different kind of infection and unvaccinated staff raise alarms
Alarms are sounding yet again that the nation’s nursing homes and other long-term care facilities may need to increase important infection control measures and reexamine what’s going on with the staff they need to safeguard patients. Details are still emerging. But federal officials say they have sufficient evidence to report a new outbreak of Candida….
Continue ReadingVexation rises as unvaccinated dig in and pandemic surges with Delta variant
As coronavirus cases surge, hospitalizations rise, and deaths tick up — mostly among the unvaccinated — the national conversation has returned to familiar controversies over public health measures like getting people shots and getting them to cover their faces again. But with the Delta variant tearing mostly through those who haven’t gotten shots, a new….
Continue ReadingSurgical robot’s maker sued over business practices — but not patients’ care?
Hospitals finally are saying bull feathers to the leading maker of surgical robots that cost institutions millions of dollars annually to buy and maintain. New lawsuits against Intuitive Surgical dispute the company’s business practices, including the exclusivity it demands for its costly services and products. But will the civil claims also crack open the door to….
Continue ReadingWorse than feared: Drug overdoses rose 30% to record levels during pandemic
“It’s huge, it’s historic, it’s unheard of, unprecedented, and a real shame. It’s a complete shame” That quote, reported by the New York Times and made by Daniel Ciccarone, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, tragically summarizes the latest federal data on the opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis. As….
Continue ReadingSharp reminders of the need to watch out for dangerous doctors
Patients, politicians, and regulators may find it tough to believe, so they need sharp periodic reminders: While there are many terrific, dedicated doctors working today, there also are some truly terrible ones. And dealing with the harms of medical malpractice by the incompetent and abusive can require courage and vigilance. Perhaps a new, streamed Hollywood….
Continue ReadingCDC official sees a ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’ as coronavirus cases surge
Coronavirus infections have increased in just a week by 70%, with hospitalizations increasing 36% and deaths rising by 26%. Public health officials blame the Delta variant for fueling the latest surge in the coronavirus pandemic, the New York Times reported, noting: “Delta now accounts for more than half of new infections across the country,….
Continue ReadingHospitals gouge poor and uninsured patients with top prices, cost data show
Cash is king. That truism may hold for thrifty savers and businesses and individuals buffeted by economic uncertainty. But this realistic view also may be turned on its head for poorer, uninsured patients trying to cope with bankrupting medical bills. That’s because hospitals — a leading driver of health care costs — gouge with their….
Continue ReadingAs opioid drug-case settlement advances, fentanyl deaths spike in D.C. area
Just as attorneys generals for more than a dozen states inch toward a multibillion-dollar settlement with a drug maker faulted for its big role in the start of the opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis, that health menace is taking a new, deadly turn in the region around the nation’s capital. In Washington, D.C., Maryland,….
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