Open Your Heart

Great talk by Dr. Jordan Winkler: "10 Easy Steps to Open Your Heart".

Funny and informative. Really.  I'm really glad I live at time this is possible. Contains slightly NSFW language. (Via B.E.)

Cut Health Costs By Paying Cash

The Wall Street Journal explains, "How to Cut Your Health-Care Bill: Pay Cash".

Not long ago, hospitals routinely charged uninsured patients their highest rates, far more than insured patients paid for the same services. Now, in the Alice-in-Wonderland world of health-care prices, the opposite is often true: Patients who pay up front in cash often get better deals than their insurance plans have negotiated for them.

That is partly due to new state and federal rules aimed at protecting uninsured patients from price gouging. (Under the Affordable Care Act, for example, tax-exempt hospitals can’t charge financially strapped patients much more than Medicare pays.) Many hospitals also offer discounts if patients pay in cash on the day of service, because it saves administrative work and collection hassles. Cash prices are officially aimed at the uninsured, but people with coverage aren’t legally required to use it.

Update on Edison Vs. MOC

Dr. Megan Edison gives an important update on the MOC controversy, including practical steps physicians can take to defend their autonomy.

Hsieh Forbes Post: Liberals Against Sanders On Health Economics

I have another short post in today's Forbes: "Liberals Against Sanders On Health Economics".

Many on the political Left are speaking out against Bernie Sanders' economic and health proposals. Their objections lie primarily in the realm of economics (rather than deeper issues of the proper scope of government). But nonetheless, the pushback Sanders is getting from fellow "progressives" has surprised me.

When you've lost Paul Krugman...

Hsieh Forbes Column: Americans Love This Deadly Technology

My latest Forbes piece is now out: "Americans Love This Deadly Technology".

The theme: Americans are willing to accept 32,000 deaths per year as the price of freedom.

Pregnancy Warnings In US, Australia, And France

Here's a helpful chart in case you are pregnant.

(This was likely in response to the latest paternalisic federal government recommendations as reported in USA Today, "CDC: Young women should avoid alcohol unless using birth control".)

Armstrong On Insurance Vs. Care

Dr. Richard Armstrong of the Docs4PatientCare Foundation has another nice column out, "Why Health Insurance doesn't equal Health Care".

Armstrong's basic thesis is simple:

Health insurance as commonly “understood” is not true insurance.  This is one of the significant causes of our current national misunderstanding of health care financing which underlines the importance of these educational efforts.

But the details are important. He traces the transformation of insurance from simple risk pooling for rare-but-expensive events to the current dysfunctional system. And in the process also discusses some solutions to our current problems, such as Direct Primary Care.

(Read the full text of, "Why Health Insurance doesn't equal Health Care".)