- How UnitedHealth used secret rules to keep Medicare Advantage patients out of rehab.
- Former NIH director on lockdowns: You attach a zero value to whether this actually totally disrupts people’s lives, ruins the economy, and has many kids kept out of school in a way that they never quite recovered.
- Medicare Advantage enrollment: As of 2021, 59% of Black Medicare beneficiaries, 67% of Hispanic beneficiaries, and 55% of Asian and Pacific Islander beneficiaries were enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan as compared with 43% of White beneficiaries. Left out of the headline: These disparities mirror the same disparities found in traditional Medicare.
- Pandemic unemployment insurance benefits: Once they ended, the flow of people from unemployment to work increased by two thirds.
- How Medicare determines what it pays for medical care.
Category: Health Reform
Should Schools Shorten Medical Training to Expand Diversity, Equity and Inclusion?
I have met many doctors over the years and none of them appeared to be the type to purposely give anyone lower quality care due to race or ethnicity. The key word in my mind is purposely. Doctors are professionals who take their work seriously. Most of the racial bias in medicine is unintentional. I believe the key to reducing racial bias – or any other type of bias in medicine – is awareness. This is especially important in primary care.
Leprosy is on the Rise in the United States
Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is a bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae and the more recently discovered M. lepromatosis. It is a curable yet neglected tropical disease, entirely treatable with the right care, but nonetheless a disease that still occurs in more than 120 countries.
About 150 cases of leprosy are reported in the US each year. Unique strains of M. leprae have been detected in US patients, though most cases are people who have traveled from countries where leprosy is present or endemic.