It’s no mystery that Americans are paying a bigger share of their medical bills out-of-pocket these days. Health plan deductibles have about doubled in the past two decades. My 2023 health plan deductible is nearly $9,000. Some family plans have combined deductibles of $15,000. High deductibles are causing more Americans to delay medical care according to The New York Times.
Category: Devon Herrick
One-in-Ten FDA-Approved Drug Failed at Least One Drug Trial Goals
Is U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval the gold standard for whether a drug truly does what it’s supposed to? Not according to a recent analysis. A review by Harvard and Yale researchers found that one-in-ten drugs approved by the FDA between 2018-2021 failed one or more of the stated endpoints.
Food for Thought: How Much Does Food Effect Your Health?
The United States government maintains a dietary pyramid of foods we’re supposed to eat (see image above; that’s not the real USDA food diet pyramid). Guidelines purport to enlighten Americans on what foods they should eat and in what proportions. Supposedly, women need a diet of roughly 2,000 calories a day while men need a diet that doesn’t exceed 2,500 calories a day. That’s not just any calories, however. Our caloric intake has to be made up of certain foods in specific proportions.
Fewer Doctors Staff Hospital ERs (Saves Money, Boosts Profits)
I only recall going to the emergency room once in my life. It was afterhours and I fell and cut my knee on a floor HVAC grate putting, parallel cuts on my knee cap. I was 12 or 13 at the time and had to have between 20 and 30 stitches. The cost to have my knee sewed up afterhours was around $150 as I recall. When adjusted for inflation that’s about $800. Go figure. If I had the same injury today the ER cost would be just short of $1 million assuming it was in-network. Of course, ER providers are never in-network thanks to private equity buying up emergency medical practices and investing in ER staffing firms.