More than 100,000 Americans die every year from a drug overdose in the United States. In the 12-month period ended in September 2023, 111,380 Americans had died. As recently as 2015 the number of Americans overdosing was less than half of recent figures, although that’s no small number either. Overdose deaths had risen to about 70,000 just prior to the covid pandemic. Covid appears to be a catalyst that spurred more drug use, resulting in the number of deaths skyrocketing.
Category: Health Reform
Friday Links
- Coming to the market soon: noninvasive, AI-powered brain decoders that can translate into text the unspoken thoughts swirling through our minds.
- Another argument that FDA approval for new drugs should depend on safety alone, not efficacy.
- The US Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has a 10-year backlog of claims.
- “…the student loan program, as currently written, is looking to be one of the most costly, inefficient and unwise government programs of the 21st century.”
- More than half of all rural hospitals no longer deliver babies.
Loneliness is a Public Health Epidemic: Is New Age Self-Help Psychobabble the Answer?
In an 82-page report, the surgeon general’s staff outlined the scope of the problem. This is a curious phenomenon because the Information Age makes connecting with people easier than ever. Prior to modern communication technology, people were really isolated, often working on farms with no daily interactions other than close family members.
Thursday Links
- The first human implanted with a chip from Elon Musk’s computer-brain interface company can move a computer mouse with thought alone.
- A completely false headline: Banning surprise medical bills is raising costs elsewhere. (STAT: gated) It’s saving patients money and causing insurers to pay a bit more. What else would you expect????
- Shkreli Awards (for 2023) have arrived. My favorite: the CEO of the nation’s largest nonprofit hospital chain gets a salary of $35 million.
- More evidence in favor of the Mediterranean diet.
- Families USA (which traditionally has advocated socialism in health care) has a quasi-capitalist plan for health care reform.
- After all these years, Matthew Holt still can’t figure out how to reduce health care costs. (Hint: look at how costs are reduced in every other market.)