I confess a moment of delight when I saw the headline in my RSS reader: Patient Power for Chronic Illness. Then I saw the byline: John Goodman, that guy who thinks anybody with access to an ER has health insurance. Among his pet notions is the health-care savings account – HSA – as a way [...]
Thu, February 19 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
If you’re taking Remicade or Humira, you will want to read this article: Members of a class of drugs called TNF-alpha blockers nearly doubled the risk of herpes zoster, better known as shingles, among rheumatoid arthritis sufferers in a 5,040-patient German study. Humira, Kineret, and Remicade are all biologic agents called monoclonal antibodies. Each of [...]
Wed, February 18 2009 » Uncategorized » 2 Comments
Because I am missing a length of small intestine, I am totally dependent on cholestyramine. That missing intestine means my gut no longer reabsorbs bile salts effectively. Bile salts cause diarrhea if they pass into the large intestine, but cholestyramine binds to the bile salts and neutralizes them, letting them pass through my system without [...]
Tue, February 17 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
I was all set to take down this article by Virginia Postrel in the March issue of The Atlantic, but Merrell Goozner has done a better a job than I could have. Goozner’s post is long, but worth reading in full. Goozner makes clear that Postrel is wrong wrong wrong on the science, but she’s [...]
Tue, February 17 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
You probably already know that the peanut producer responsible for the massive salmonella outbreak deliberately lied to FDA officials about their products’ contamination. There is plenty of righteous wrath directed at the plant owner, but the FDA dropped the ball, too. While this isn’t being treated as a health care issue, it is – indirectly. [...]
Fri, February 13 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
Dr. Mintz points out how drug makers use free samples to build their business: There is no question that drug companies make samples so that doctors will use their medications, and this will ultimately increase the overall cost of prescriptions. Kevin, MD adds his gloss: So although these medications may initially be “free,” when patients [...]
Thu, February 12 2009 » Uncategorized » 1 Comment
As a dissenting view of the sort of thing I was talking about here, consider this: Consider the following statement: “It must be made clear to anyone suffering from an incurable disease that the useless dissipation of costly medications drawn from the public store cannot be justified.” This notion is fully in the spirit of [...]
Thu, February 12 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
Via Krugman via NOW! Blog, from the WSJ: The drug and medical-device industries are mobilizing to gut a provision in the stimulus bill that would spend $1.1 billion on research comparing medical treatments, portraying it as the first step to government rationing. [...]The administration hopes to expand coverage while limiting use of treatments that don’t [...]
Wed, February 11 2009 » Uncategorized » 3 Comments
Grand Rounds is up at The Health Care Blog. Thanks to John and co. for hosting. Not sure how I feel about being lumped in with the geeks: I’m sure they didn’t mean “geek (n.) 1. an unfashionable or socially inept person” or “2. A carnival performer who does wild or disgusting acts,” but nor [...]
Wed, February 11 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
Tim Foley posted a series of posts weighing the good and the bad of the public competitor aspect of Obama’s plan. Here he is in part 2 of his posts: It is the hope of most liberals that the public plan does so well, that it so clearly dominates the market 5 or 10 years [...]
Tue, February 10 2009 » Uncategorized » 2 Comments
A novel crime against decency by Duncan Cross
