This past week, two patients complained to me about changes in the insurance co-payments required by their employers. A patient worked for 3M, retired, and signed up for Medicare. Previously, 3M had been paying for her Medicare supplemental insurance. She is now receiving therapy for her breast cancer. she told me the insurance administrator has just notified her that the payments for her Medicare supplement plan would be discontinued at the end of the year. …
Healthcare in America is becoming more complex. As described by M. Smith and coauthors in their recent article, “What’s Needed Is a Health Care System That Learns,” each Medicare patient now has an average of 7 doctors in 4 different practices, and each doctor must interact with over 200 other physicians to care for all of the practice’s Medicare patients. It is expected that the increase in chronic conditions by 26% between 2000…
Doctors have been trying for 30 years to develop a chemotherapy sensitivity test to identify the most effective chemotherapy drugs for an individual patient. At the 2012 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, my partner Dr. Linda Bosserman and I presented the results of a national study that showed a new test, the MiCK Drug Induced Apoptosis assay, was able to help physicians choose…
In my book Surviving American Medicine and in this blog, I offer a plethora of health tips and advice. The positions I take are my own – not influenced by an organization or elected body. I may come of as negative or a curmudgeon, but that is for a purpose. In the following paragraphs, I’ll explain where I stand regarding the current state of American medicine.
First, I should let…
The other day, a patient came to see me and complained about breast imaging center in the Los Angeles area. “You sent me to have a biopsy of an abnormality that was found on a breast MRI scan, and they told me that they would not do it because I had not had my first scan at their facility. They actually wanted me to completely repeat the previous scan, even though I had a DVD…
Can you trust the medicine you’re taking? Thanks the recent fungal meningitis outbreak (allegedly due to tainted drugs), people everywhere are taking more time to examine their pills and potions they ingest, even asking their physicians whether or not they even need the drug. And they should question!
It’s vitally important to be considerate of everything pharmaceutical you put in your body, but it can be difficult to know what to ask. To be more…
When you listen to the political debates currently taking place, one can get the feeling that the reforms proposed by “Obamacare” and “Romneycare” are futuristic predictions and not things you need to worry about just yet. Well, you better open your eyes! The Affordable Care Act passed and is in effect – the changes are happening now!
Your physicians visits are already changing. Your doctors have more patients to see and therefore little time to…
You may think you’re getting “good” health care, but I can almost guarantee you’re not getting the best. Even if you think you are, it may be rapidly changing due to health care reforms. Surviving American Medicine provides you with everything you need to navigate the current war zone that is health care in America by providing expert tips and insights that will ensure you get the best care possible.
Health care reform is all…