Health policy and public health

4,357 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 92

If health care is a right, so should having legal insurance

October 14, 2017Oct 14, 201733

The main justification for single payer seems to be that access to affordable quality health care is a right. Nowhere in our constitution does it say that anyone has a "right" to individual services or property. Housing, food, health care,…

The main justification for single payer seems to be that access to affordable quality health care is a right. Nowhere in our constitution does it say that anyone has a “right” to individual services or property. Housing, food, health care, even cell phones have become “rights.” What our constitution does say is that each citizen does have the right to equal protection under the law, equal access to the courts …

Health policy

Let’s share our stories about gun violence

Barbara Meyer, MD, MPH

October 13, 2017Oct 13, 201728

It’s a peculiar kind of civil war we are waging in America. 30,000 of us die each year from gun violence, exceeding the number killed annually on all sides in the Syrian civil war. On October 1, we saw more than 58 people slaughtered and hundreds injured in a carefully planned attack. At a concert. In Las Vegas. For no apparent reason.

My professional interest in this problem began during my …

Health policy

Here’s what Dr. Seuss can teach real doctors about burnout

Stacey Searson, MD

October 12, 2017Oct 12, 20174

While driving home from a weekend trip, my children were watching The Lorax in the backseat, and I couldn’t help but think how acutely applicable its theme is to the current state of medicine in America. Just as seemingly small changes in the name of “progress” slowly altered the environment in The Lorax, a handful of mostly well-intended modifications have transformed the landscape of medicine into something unrecognizable and unsustainable.

We …

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Health policy

Please make primary care as sexy as Grey’s Anatomy

Elizabeth Métraux

October 11, 2017Oct 11, 2017

Dear Shonda Rhimes, the brilliant mind behind my favorite television show, We need to talk about “Grey’s Anatomy.” I’m a fan. A really, really big fan. The kind of fan who -- in the last 48 hours -- rewatched all…

Dear Shonda Rhimes, the brilliant mind behind my favorite television show,

We need to talk about “Grey’s Anatomy.”

I’m a fan. A really, really big fan. The kind of fan who — in the last 48 hours — rewatched all of last season’s episodes to prepare for the season premiere, and who has blocked off every Thursday night this …

Health policy

We must be brave enough to seek change

Fred N. Pelzman, MD

October 10, 2017Oct 10, 2017

On the porch. It's that time of year again, when we escape from the heat of New York City summers, and head to New Hampshire, to the Central Lakes District, where my wife's family has had a house perched out…

On the porch.

It’s that time of year again, when we escape from the heat of New York City summers, and head to New Hampshire, to the Central Lakes District, where my wife’s family has had a house perched out over the clear waters of Newfound Lake for over 120 years.

It’s a small wooden house, with barely enough room for all of us squeezed in, painted bright yellow and orange, with …

Read more…

We must be brave enough to seek change

Physician voices

After Las Vegas: What is the change that needs to occur?

Rita Agarwal, MD

October 10, 2017Oct 10, 201749

Las Vegas: 59 dead, 500+ injured. I worry about our medical colleagues who will suffer tremendously while treating the injured; they will be wracked with guilt for the patients they could not help and false back to the horror of that night and the ensuing days and weeks caring for the living. We must find ways to support each other help them cope as well as looking for sensible solutions.

My …

Physician voices

An argument against public reporting of individual surgeon outcomes

Skeptical Scalpel, MD

October 9, 2017Oct 9, 201711

Recently, Dr. Ashish K. Jha, a Harvard internist and health policy researcher, published an opinion piece in JAMA, advocating public reporting of individual surgeon outcomes. I have followed Dr. Jha for many years on Twitter and have enjoyed his blog…

Recently, Dr. Ashish K. Jha, a Harvard internist and health policy researcher, published an opinion piece in JAMA, advocating public reporting of individual surgeon outcomes.

I have followed Dr. Jha for many years on Twitter and have enjoyed his blog posts and papers. However, I must respectfully disagree with much of what he wrote this time.

He tries but fails to refute the arguments that critics of individual surgeon reporting …

Physician voices

Meet the primary care doctor who’s happy with his job

Rob Lamberts, MD

October 9, 2017Oct 9, 20176

Hi, I'm Rob. I'm a recovering doctor. Yeah, I know I used that line once before, but it's a special day for me today. Humor me. Five years ago today, I earned my last money from an insurance company. Yep,…

Hi, I’m Rob. I’m a recovering doctor.

Yeah, I know I used that line once before, but it’s a special day for me today. Humor me. Five years ago today, I earned my last money from an insurance company. Yep, today is my five-year sobriety date.

Five years.

That was before the Affordable Care Act before the Cubs won the World Series. Before anyone knelt for the national anthem, and …

Health policy

In health care reform, what’s the ideal role of government?

Matthew Hahn, MD

October 8, 2017Oct 8, 201728

One of the most popular narratives in American public discourse, especially as it pertains to health care, is that government is bad, and the free market, meaning private industry, is good. And the natural extension of this line of reasoning is that the government cannot, and therefore should not be part of any health care reform solution. Further, only the free market is capable of fixing things, and it was …

Physician voices

Health care is ultimately about our patients. That must remain our focus.

Suneel Dhand, MD

October 8, 2017Oct 8, 2017

It was my childhood dream to become an airline pilot. We lived near Heathrow airport in London, and I was a diligent plane spotter (please save the jokes). I had a book when I was nine years old that listed all civil aviation registrations, and I would mark them off as I spotted different planes through my binoculars, coming into land at the world’s busiest international airport. My flying memories …

Physician finance

The difference between doctors and roofers? Not much.

Cory Fawcett, MD

October 6, 2017Oct 6, 201715

I recently had an experience that opened my eyes to a big problem in medicine: availability. My son came to me one morning and said he was kept awake by the dripping over his bed. My roof was leaking. Once…

I recently had an experience that opened my eyes to a big problem in medicine: availability.

My son came to me one morning and said he was kept awake by the dripping over his bed. My roof was leaking. Once I found the source of the leak and discovered that it was more than I wanted to tackle, I needed to find a roofer.

Every call to a roofing company resulted in …

Health policy

Anti-immigrant policies put people at risk during Harvey. And that’s just the beginning.

Elisabeth Poorman, MD

October 6, 2017Oct 6, 20172

As Harvey’s devastation raged through Houston recently, the city's mayor was compelled to address rumors that those seeking aid could be deported. In the wake of a statewide ban on “sanctuary cities,” the mayor sought to reassure the Houston area's…

As Harvey’s devastation raged through Houston recently, the city’s mayor was compelled to address rumors that those seeking aid could be deported.

In the wake of a statewide b an on “sanctuary cities,” the mayor sought to reassure the Houston area’s more than 500,000 undocumented immigrants that they would not be targeted for deportation at emergency shelters.

Nevertheless, out of the disaster …

Medical education

Want to change medicine? Work in finance.

Ryan O'Keefe

October 5, 2017Oct 5, 2017

Traditionally, many medical students use the proverbial “last summer of their lives” to conduct basic/clinical research, shadow or go abroad. If you want to be a leader in health care or are simply unsure of what to do over the…

Wall Street, big pharma and private insurers have long been the moral punching bags of clinicians …

Health policy

A health care solution to rival single payer

Matthew Hahn, MD

October 3, 2017Oct 3, 201788

The current conversation regarding health care reform in the U.S. is essentially pointless. It can be boiled down into four statements: Obamacare stinks, so we need to get rid of it; Obamacare doesn’t stink, so we just need to improve upon it; the insurance companies are to blame, so a government single-payer system is the best idea; the government is to blame, and only the free market can fix health …

Physician voices

Doctors should be paid well. But how much is enough?

Peter Ubel, MD

October 2, 2017Oct 2, 20179

American physicians deserve to be paid well for their work. As a physician, myself, I know what it takes to become a doctor in the U.S. Four years of late nights in the college library in hopes of achieving a GPA commensurate with medical school admission; then four years of medical school, which makes the college work load feel light in retrospect; then, in my case, three years of residency …

Health policy

Primary care makes a difference for patients and the nation

Glen R. Stream, MD

October 2, 2017Oct 2, 20172

This week is National Primary Care Week, an opportunity to engage medical students and healthcare stakeholders in a national discussion around the tremendous role that primary care plays in our health care system. With so much debate about the high…

With so much debate about the high price of health care in the United States, too often one of the most effective methods of controlling costs is overlooked: primary care. A wealth of research continues to show that …

Physician voices

Why this physician thinks everyone should stand for the national anthem

Suneel Dhand, MD

October 2, 2017Oct 2, 201710

The news cycle over the last several days has been dominated by President Trump’s interjection into the row about NFL players refusing to stand during the national anthem. The media went into hysteria following his curse remarks, and a full-blown row has gone on to develop. Turning this issue into a national political one is a great shame on so many different levels, including not least the reality …

Physician voices

Poor leadership and disastrous decision-making are to blame for Florida’s nursing home deaths

Krysten Clark Wilkes

October 2, 2017Oct 2, 2017

An eleventh nursing home resident has died after an air conditioning failure following last week’s Hurricane Irma. The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, located outside of Fort Lauderdale, was one of 160 nursing homes that had no electricity and no air conditioning, as power lines across the state were decimated by the storm. Yet, it was the only nursing home facility in the state of Florida where multiple deaths occurred …

Physician voices

Philando Castile, Charleena Lyles, and PTSD: The consequences of fatal police encounters

Elizabeth Parris, MS & Marshall Fleurant, MD, MPH

October 1, 2017Oct 1, 2017

Fatal police encounters can engender PTSD in non-white communities and forever impact interactions with police. In the last few years, we have witnessed in horror the erosion of trust between public servants charged to protect the community and the non-white communities they serve. The killing of Philando Castile and Charleena Lyles compounded the horror, as their violent deaths were witnessed by their young children, spouses and, for Philando, social media. …

Health policy

What’s the greatest threat to health reform?

Mark Kelley, MD

October 1, 2017Oct 1, 20176

The main character in the popular film Groundhog Day is caught in a time loop where he must repeat the same day over and over again. The U.S. Senate is now having its own Groundhog Day moment as it debates…

The main character in the popular film Groundhog Day is caught in a time loop where he must repeat the same day over and over again.

The U.S. Senate is now having its own Groundhog Day moment as it debates (yet again) a law to replace the Affordable Care Act. To add to the drama, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is promoting his single payer alternative popularly branded as “Medicare for All.” In a recent …

Health policy and public health

Articles, page 92

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