The New York Times reports on new research revealing that medical debt is far greater in the US than originally thought. The amount of medical debt is particularly high in states that refused to...
Diane Archer
Do you have A-fib and what to do about it?
Jane Brody reports for The New York Times on “A-fib” or “atrial fibrillation,” a relatively common heart condition that many people do not realize they have. If you get tired...
Hospital prices demand government attention
In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, a surgeon, Nisarg Patel, argues that hospital prices are the big problem with our health care system. Hospital prices demand government...
Senate Dems’ budget package would improve Medicare
The Senate Democrats have a $3.5 trillion budget package that would improve and expand Medicare. It assumes large savings from Medicare drug price negotiation that can be spent on these improvements...
Biden steps in on drug prices
David Dayen reports in the American Prospect on new developments at the White House regarding legislation that would lower prescription drug prices. President Joe Biden’s executive order on...
Caregiving: How to prepare for a visit to aging loved ones
Now that the pandemic is somewhat behind us, we are reconnecting in person with older friends and family members. If you’d like to help them with the to-do list they were forced to put on hold...
2021: Programs that lower your health care costs if you have...
Medicare only covers about half of a typical person’s health care costs. So, even with Medicare, many people struggle to afford premiums, deductibles and other out-of-pockets health care costs...
President Biden fires head of Social Security
It took longer than it should have, but President Biden fired Trump’s pick to head Social Security, Andrew Saul. As you might imagine, Saul’s entire m.o. was to keep people from getting...
Pharma spends more on stock buybacks than research
A new House Oversight Committee report finds that the biggest pharmaceutical companies spend more on stock buybacks than on research. They have spent more each year for the last five years. Lowering...
Medicare to decide when new Alzheimer’s drug is covered
As a rule, Medicare covers all federally approved treatments and medicines. But, there are always exceptions. Rachel Cohrs and Ed Silverman report for Stat that coverage for Aduhelm, the ridiculously...