Category: Single-Payer/Medicare-for-All

Should Medicare Pay for Cancer Screening in Healthy People? No but Seniors May Want to

Posted on by Devon Herrick

A while back I wrote about Galleri, the holy grail of cancer screening tests, saying:

Cancer is usually treatable if caught early. The cancers that are the deadliest (such as pancreatic cancer) are lethal because they are difficult to catch early. Many deadly cancers have no symptoms until they’ve spread. About 90% of cancer deaths are due to metastatic cancer, that is cancer that has spread beyond the original location. In theory most cancer could be treatable if only it could be caught sooner, before it has a chance to spread.

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Physicians’ Practices Vary: Some are Good, Some are Bad

Posted on by Devon Herrick

I am (generally) a big fan of doctors experimenting with different forms of medical practices. Some doctors are sole proprietors and work mostly alone in their office. Years ago, I went to a doctor who did not accept insurance and would not make appointments. His office was small since he didn’t require a billing staff and was very efficient. His prices were transparent and quite low ($35 office call in 1993).

Another physician, this one from Northern Virginia, pioneered primary care consultations by telephone. Doctalker Family Medicine would do house calls, in-office visits and consultations by phone. Each service came with a different price tag. He did not accept insurance, but his office would help patients fill out an insurance claim form for a modest fee. Most of his consultations were by phone.

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The High Cost of Poor Mental Health

Posted on by Devon Herrick

There is a growing mental health crisis today. Numerous people report being depressed or anxious due to Covid and its aftermath. As the Texas mall shooting illustrates there is a lot of untreated mental illness in the United States. Indeed visits to the emergency rooms (ER) for mental health problems are on the rise. A mental health issue such as a panic attack can mimic other problems. I met a cab driver who said he went to the ER for a heart attack but it turned out to be a panic attack. Purportedly, hundreds of thousands of Medicaid patients seek treatment in emergency rooms for mental health.

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