Category: Devon Herrick

FDA: Americans are Fat Because They Can’t Read Nutrition Facts Labels

Posted on by Devon Herrick

See the guy in the stock photo above? He has a weight problem because he doesn’t know how to read the Nutrition Facts labels on foods. Seriously, it’s not his fault. It’s those sneaky food companies who falsely claim a supersized burger and fries are healthy foods.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposes to do something about deceptive food product labels. The FDA just announced a proposed rule (and labels) that outline the criteria that meets nutritional guidelines allowing companies to claim their products are healthy.

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Texas Hospitals Thrive While Saddling Patients with High Medical Bills and Debt

Posted on by Devon Herrick

Kaiser Health News and the Urban Institute looked at areas with high medical debt and compared them to hospitals’ profit margins. It profiled the North Texas region surrounding Dallas-Fort Worth.

Of the nation’s 20 most populous counties, none has a higher concentration of medical debt than Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth. Second is Dallas County, credit bureau data shows.

Does a lot of medical debt indicate that a Urban Institute are struggling to pay their medical bills and the local hospitals are struggling as a result? That was not the case according to the analysis.

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Doctors: Friends Don’t Let Friends Ride Bicycles Stoned

Posted on by Devon Herrick

From 2019 to 2020 more than 11,000 patients were treated in hospital emergency rooms for bicycle accidents while high on methamphetamine, marijuana or opioids. Some were also drunk or had been drinking alcohol.

The most common drugs found were methamphetamine (36%); marijuana (32%); and opioids (19%). Nearly a quarter of injured bikers had also been drinking alcohol, the study found.

Researchers speculate that some of the crash victims may have suffered fatal injuries.

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Non-Profit Hospitals Earn Big Profits, Many Don’t Provide Much Charity Care

Posted on by Devon Herrick

More than half of the nation’s 5,000 hospitals operate as not-for-profit entities. In theory non-profit hospitals get an exemption from income tax, property tax, sales tax and get preferential financing because they provide a public service to the communities in which they operate. I worked for a large non-profit hospital system years ago and a financial analyst did the math and estimated our tax exclusion was worth something like $100 million a year. In return for the huge tax advantage all the hospital had to do was provide between 4% and 5% of net revenue in charity care for low-income patients.

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