According to a British Medical Journal study, counties that voted for GOP presidential candidates between 2000 and 2016 had smaller reductions in age-adjusted mortality rates over the past two decades than counties that backed their Democratic rivals.
Yet, Doug Badger finds the study deeply flawed.
Drug reimportation is an attractive idea until you think it though. Importing drugs from abroad would seem to make sense in a global economy. Proponents point to the fact that the United States pays the highest price for drugs of any developed country. U.S. prices are far more than developing countries pay. Opponents correctly point out what you’re importing is other countries’ price controls.
A man came into the Denver VA hospital complaining of a painful hernia near his stomach. His doctor knew he needed surgery immediately but another doctor had ordered a chest-ray, which is standard practice. The X-ray revealed a shadow, possibly a mass (cancer) or more likely a harmless cluster of blood vessels. A follow-up CT scan showed his lung was fine but found something suspicious on his adrenal gland. A second CT scan cleared his adrenal gland but by this time two months had gone by. It would be another four months due to scheduling conflicts before the man finally got his surgery. This “cascade of care” is what results when one test is ambiguous resulting in additional tests that ultimately find nothing was wrong in the first place. These unnecessary tests and procedures are what medical research refers to as “low-value care.” There are no clinical benefits from low-value services and potential for harm.