Are Drugs Too Expensive?
The subject of drug prices is making the news much more frequently. An opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal this week pointed out drugs are only 10% of the cost of American healthcare. My research indicated it was closer to 15%, but even at 10%, the cost approaches $400 billion. The article was written by […]
How to find out your surgeon’s track record
A new web site called SurgeonRatings.org aims to add transparency to how good our surgeons are compared to each other. The site also shows how many other doctors offer referrals to a surgeon. The data are imperfect, but making it available is a good step in the right direction of enabling consumers to make better informed decisions. […]
Topol Interviews Gawande and Gladwell: Awesome People
Dr. Eric J. Tool is Director, Scripps Translational Science Institute and Editor-in-Chief at Medscape. Medscape is part of the WebMD Health Professional Network. Eric has a regular video interview series called One on One. I find his interviews extremely interested, and I would like to share two I just watched. You must be a Medscape subscriber […]
How Many Surgeries Are Necessary?
As discussed in Health Attitude, the number one problem with our healthcare system is the high cost. There are many reasons for the high cost including fraud, inefficiency, big pharma runaway pricing, and unncessary tests and procedures. Some estimates put the cost of the latter factor at between $500 billion and $1 trillion. The cost is unsustainable […]
Is Weight-Loss Surgery Better Than Diet and Exercise?
One of the topics in Health Attitude is obesity. This post includes a summary of what I wrote. Obesity is a chronic condition that has become a pandemic. In 2013 at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, physicians voted overwhelmingly to categorize obesity as “a disease that requires a range of interventions to advance treatment […]
