While at first glance a Medicare Advantage plan may seem like a better deal than traditional Medicare, appearances can be deceiving. If you sign up for a Medicare Advantage plan, you severely limit...
Diane Archer
Let’s make medicines a public good again
Fran Quigley writes for The Other 98 percent that it is time to make medicines a public good again. He explains that it is only recently that we began treating medicines as a commodity that could be...
Barbara Bush chooses comfort care at end of life
Nearing the end of her life, Barbara Bush opted for comfort care, sometimes called “palliative” care. She chose not to seek medical interventions to treat her congestive heart failure...
Are fish oil supplements just another red herring?
There appears to be precious little evidence of the benefits to individuals of fish oil supplements, according to research out of the University of Auckland in New Zealand and, more recently, a US...
Medicare covers diabetes prevention program
More than 29 million Americans, including almost 12 million older adults, have type 2 diabetes. That’s almost 10 percent of adults in the United States and more than 25 percent of adults over...
To live longer, limit your alcohol intake to five drinks a week
A new meta-study of nearly 600,000 people from 19 countries, published in The Lancet may give you pause before you take your next drink. The big takeaway: Less alcohol is better for your health. The...
Protect your eyesight: Free and low-cost vision care
Your ability to see well is precious. But, your vision is likely to deteriorate as you age. Some people develop eye diseases that have no early warning signs, including age-related macular...
Financial scams: Beware of strangers offering help
Financial scams abound. Scammers prey on people, particularly older people, in all kinds of ways — first building trust, then offering “help” and then asking for money. Here are a few...
What is wrong with Medicare prices for all?
In the latest issue of the Washington Monthly, Paul Hewitt and Phillip Longman make the case for single-price health care, proposing Medicare prices for all. They explain how the Affordable Care...
How to improve access to medicines? Fix incentives
At the Lown Institute annual conference, Vinay Prasad, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Oregon Health and Sciences University, explained how to improve access to medicines–how to...