Meet Johnathan, a 34-year-old male from rural Georgia we recently treated for back pain as a result of some extra contractor work he took on over the holidays. We see patients like him every 11 minutes, which doesn’t leave much time to get beyond Johnathan’s chief complaint. He leaves with his first prescription for opioids.
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Of the 91 Americans taken each day, Georgia now claims Read more…
A drug problem in rural Georgia
In 2011, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg remarked upon a “new direction in the treatment of hepatitis C,” as a success rate of approximately 70% marked a significant improvement over the previous rate of approximately 50%, and suggested a cure was in sight.
Today, that cure has been realized as Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), a novel agent, has shown a success rate of 95% in clinical trials. Sofosbuvir comes without the …
Treating hepatitis C: Is sofosbuvir worth it?
Currently, the United States spends approximately 3 trillion dollars on health care, which is roughly 18% of our gross domestic product (GDP). Not only is this more than every other country in the world, but it’s also more than the next 10 largest spenders combined. Looking backwards, health care spending rose steadily from about 9% of our GDP in 1980 to about 16% in 2008. Looking ahead, by 2020, health …
The United States takes the spoiled rich kid approach to health care
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