Thursday Links

Posted on by John C. Goodman

Studies: hugs are good for you.

Regular mammograms identify 87% of breast cancers. AI programs can boost that detection rate by 20%, and the cost is $40 – $100 extra. Is that worth it?

Study: There is no evidence that buying and then forgiving medical debts that are in collections improved on average beneficiaries’ finances, access to credit, or their physical or mental health. People were even less likely to pay existing medical bills after their debt was eliminated.

PFAS are called “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down for thousands of years, if at all. Turns out, they are everywhere, including our drinking water, and that could be hazardous to our health.

The FDA has approved a test that predicts a patient’s risk of becoming addicted to opioids. Why is that controversial?

1 thought on “Thursday Links”

  1. Thanks for the link to the study on the limited effects of forgiving medical debt.

    I once ran a small credit counseling service, so I had quite a bit of contact with medical debtors.

    Let me share an observation or two….

    1. This group generally does not have enough money for a house, for utilities, and (if they do own a home) for home insurance. They are always close to broke.

    2. The reason they have medical debt in the first place is that they chose a health insurance plan with a deductible they could not really afford. Maybe that is all that their employer offered them.

    The patients went with the lower premium plan, understandably, and effectively rolled the dice that they would not get sick in the next year.

    Medical debt means that they lost the bet for this year. But most will make the bet next year too. It does not leave them feeling optimistic about their finances…thus the results shown in this study.

    Reply

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