August 9th, 2011 by Stanley Feld, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Antibiotics, Co-pays, Generic Drugs, Healthcare Insurance Industry, Insurance Companies, Levaquin, Levofloxacin, Medicare, Medicare Part D, Pharmaceutical Comapnies, premiums, Prescription Medication, Senior Citizens
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I have discussed Medicare Part B and Part F in recent blogs. A reader asked about Medicare Part D:
Dr. Feld
“Please discuss Medicare Part D, the drug benefit plan available to seniors. It is very complicated and completely confusing to me.
My physician gave me a prescription for Levequin 500 mg once a day for 10 days. The pharmacist told me it would cost me $330 dollars. Medicare Part D would pay an additional $110 dollars for a total of $440 dollars.
I asked the pharmacist if there was a generic equivalent. The answer was yes. It cost $10 dollars.
This is unconscionable. It is highway robbery.
Sincerely
a.g.”
Several issues are presented in this readers note. It is essential to understand these issues. The issues are an indictment against government “controlled” programs. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
August 9th, 2011 by Berci in Opinion, Video
Tags: CDC, Epidemics, Flu Outbreaks, Flu Symptoms, Google Flu Trends, Health 2.0, Medical Technology, National Surveillance Program, Search Queries, Social Media, Twitter, Web 2.0
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Do you remember when Google Flu Trends was announced to be able to track and predict flu outbreaks in US states based on the search queries focusing on flu symptoms? Do you remember when a study pointed out although it was interactive and neat but was not as useful as CDC national surveillance programs? Well, now Twitter is meant to fill this gap. If you ask me, it won’t.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
August 8th, 2011 by GarySchwitzer in Opinion, Research
Tags: Abdominal Surgery, Colorectal Surgery, Conventional Surgery, Esophageal Reflux Disease, Evidence Based Medicine, Gynecologic Surgery, Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic Prostatectomy, Medical Devices, Prostate Cancer, RALF, Research, Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Fundoplication, Robotic Surgery, Robotics, Skeptical Scalpel, Surgeon
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The surgeon who blogs as Skeptical Scalpel writes that he (she?) is unable to contain him(her)self any longer and then lunges into a review of evidence (or lack thereof) for robotic surgery.
You may disagree with Skeptical Scalpel’s decision to be anonymous, but he/she explains:
“I’ve been a surgeon for almost 40 years and a surgical department chairman for over 23 of those years. During much of that time, conforming to the norms, rules and regulations of government agencies, accrediting bodies, hospitals, societies, and social convention was necessary for survival. I was always somewhat outspoken but in a controlled way most of the time. I now have a purely clinical surgery practice with no meetings, site visits or administrative hassles. I am free to speak my mind about medicine or anything else.”
On robotics, Skeptical Scalpel writes: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
August 8th, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in Health Tips, Opinion
Tags: Aging Effects, anti-aging, Cosmetic Surgery, Good Skin Care, Hormones, Injections, Medicine, Minor Procedures, Plastic Surgery, smoking, Sunlight, Sunscreen
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Reader Question:
Do you do anti-aging medicine? I do not see it on your web site. If not, what is your opinion of it?
I am not a fan or follower of the anti-aging medicine fad in so much that it promotes what I believe to be a false concept. An older person cannot be made into a younger version of herself by boosting certain hormones. There is really no good evidence that it works. Patients don’t live any longer. It might also be found to be harmful in the long run.
Plastic surgeons will differ in their opinions as to what works with low risk to improve things. To me Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
August 8th, 2011 by KerriSparling in Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Adulthood, Adults, CGM, Children with Diabetes, Clara Barton Camp, Diabetic Children, Friends for Life, Growing Up, Insulin Pump, kids, Parents With Diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes
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In the years I’ve attended CWD’s Friends for Life conference, I always came away with this appreciation for what the conference provides for kids with diabetes, and their parents. Kids – a whole bunch of them – running amuck and clad in green bracelets with pump tubing flapping from underneath their t-shirts … it’s a place where these families hopefully feel normal, and safe, and understood.
But I’m not a kid with diabetes. I’m an adult. (I checked, and it’s true: adult.) I always felt welcomed at past FFL conferences, but people constantly checked for the kid at my side, because the “child with diabetes” surely couldn’t be me. (And then there was that time that the registration lady thought Sara(aah) was my child with diabetes, wherein my head exploded.)
Growing up with diabetes isn’t hard. It isn’t easy. I can’t assign adjectives to it because it’s all I’ve ever known, so growing up with diabetes is exactly synonymous to “just plain growing up.” My friends didn’t have to take injections or chase NPH peaks, but we were in the same classes and rode the same bus and went on the same field trips, so we were “the same.” The difference, at that point in my life, was Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
