Welcome Stupid Cancer Show listeners

I have to thank Matthew, Kairol, and Jack for a great discussion on their show this evening. I really appreciate their interest in health reform, and their commitment to getting young adults involved. You can bet I’ll be listening next week to find out how their calls went. The number for the U.S. Capitol switchboard, [...]

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Mon, September 28 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments

Reminder: Stupid Cancer Show tonight

I am a guest on “The Stupid Cancer Show” this evening at 9pm. Be sure to tune in live, or catch the podcast when you can.

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Mon, September 28 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments

Yours truly on the air

I will be a guest on next week’s “Stupid Cancer Show“, talking about laws, health care, and health care reform. Please join us live at 9pm (Eastern) Monday, or catch the podcast afterward.

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Thu, September 24 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments

Patients for a Moment

Kerri at Six Until Me hosts Patients for a Moment this week – and she’s done a wonderful job! In two weeks Sara at Single Gal’s Guide to RA will host, and two weeks after that I will host again. As always, archive, calendar, and submission information are here.

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Wed, September 23 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments

Rationing vs. evidence

Sharon Begley in Newsweek has a mind-twistingly convoluted argument against… wait – is it rationing? or evidence-based medicine? What do you want to bet that, whatever happens to health-care reform (since the nation will continue to struggle with skyrocketing medical costs), in the current climate of rationing fears, they will be suspicious, even furious, believing [...]

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Wed, September 23 2009 » Uncategorized » 5 Comments

Spin me right round round round

Among the problems that arose during my appointment with Dr. Jamfingers was my lack of medical records from previous surgeons. In particular, the fact that I did not have any records of my most recent colonoscopy was a problem. He decided I had to get a whole new battery of tests, which he wrote down [...]

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Tue, September 15 2009 » Uncategorized » 4 Comments

The Glenn Beck protests

You might have seen on the news the large demonstration this weekend in DC. I planned to attend as a counter-demonstrator, but wound up watching it from my couch on C-SPAN. This was probably for the better – whatever they were protesting against down there, it was just a bit too slippery to argue against. [...]

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Mon, September 14 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments

A few articles

These have been sitting in my browser for a while, and each is worth reading in full: From Slate, “The Fix is In” – about how a quasi-official panel of doctors called the RUC establishes prices for medical care. This is a good overview of the basic mechanism beneath the health care market. That article [...]

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Thu, September 10 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments

Holy Mole-y!

I had a dermatologist’s appointment yesterday afternoon, to get two moles removed. I left home thirty minutes before the appointment, drove to the medical center, and was in the parking garage with ten minutes to go. Then I realized: I’m at the wrong office. My dermatologist’s office was on the other side of town. Oops… [...]

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Thu, September 10 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments

Malpractice and Patient Safety

Dr. Wes is on a tear about President Obama’s speech; apparently, he didn’t spend enough time on malpractice reform. I suspect President Obama could have spent hours and hours on malpractice reform, and it would not have been enough. In any case, Dr. Wes thinks the reference to the 2006 article Obama co-authored with then-Senator [...]

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Thu, September 10 2009 » Uncategorized » 2 Comments