What does it take to drive big health care system change? Trump’s HHS head, Alex Azar, recognizes that commercial health plans do not have the power. Only Medicare and Medicaid can lead the way...
Diane Archer
Reduce your risk of heart disease. Exercise!
To reduce your risk of coronary heart disease, just as with reducing your risk of stroke, the best thing you can do is exercise. Indeed, the more you exercise, the more likely you are to prolong your...
Question your doctor before getting arthroscopic knee surgery
If your doctor recommends you get arthroscopic knee surgery for a meniscal tear, do some homework before moving forward with the operation. A new Johns Hopkins study published in JAMA reveals that...
What to know about Medicare inpatient hospital care
Medicare Part A covers medically reasonable and necessary inpatient hospital care and discharge planning. Be sure to speak to your doctor to ensure you are formally admitted as an inpatient...
Seven reasons commercial insurance cannot meet our health care...
As policymakers, pundits and the public consider the path to universal health care coverage in the US, it is helpful to remind ourselves of the key reasons that commercial health insurance cannot and...
Congress should fully fund Social Security
Joe Davidson reports for the Washington Post on Trump’s plan for Social Security. And, despite less service and longer waits at Social Security today because Congress has kept it from spending...
No evidence oral beauty supplements improve skin
A meta-study of research on oral beauty supplements by nutrition scientists at the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) shows no good evidence that oral beauty supplements improve the skin. As with...
What Medicare covers
In order to plan for your care as you get older, it is good to know what Medicare covers and what it does not cover. You can then budget for your out-of-pocket costs. Because Medicare generally does...
Center for American Progress proposes plan to improve and expand...
In a sign that the Clinton-Obama wing of the Democratic party has moved left, last week the Center for American Progress proposed Medicare Extra, universal national health insurance for everyone...
Don’t sign a bank loan in the hospital
Shefali Luthra reports for Kaiser Health News on how unsuspecting patients are signing bank loans in the hospital in order to pay their hospital bills. Some hospitals are partnering with banks as a...