CHANGE HEALTH TODAY

Michelle Andrews' article in NPR/Kaiser Health News is worth a quick read, and here are a few major takeaways I got from it. First, having your boss all up in your business can be off-putting. It's one thing to have your medical professional know you inside and out; it's another thing to have your employer knowing you inside and out (e.g. Hobby Lobby and the contraceptive debate). Secondly, most corporate incentive programs neglect to give incentives that are big enough and o

This story was written by Ben Allen for NPR yesterday. Substance abuse treatment is sometimes a difficult subject to discuss because it is strongly influenced by both biology and psychology. People often wonder why they don't "just stop." That question has implications across the board and treatment is often a mix of biological and psychological approaches that oftentimes are misunderstood by those holding the opposite philosophy. With that said, the best way to make the sit

This is a feel-good-meets-informational story by NPR's Lauren Silverman about the use of service animals. Patriot PAWS is a nonprofit in Rockwall, Texas that provides service dogs. This particular company has been training dogs to help military veterans with PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) and other mental health concerns. The article states, "the Department of Veterans Affairs won't help pay for service dogs for PTSD, citing a lack of scientific evidence. But it's launc

Here's yet another opportunity to see just how ridiculous our health system is. This was an article written by Jake Harper, published a couple days ago. Quick summary: a private company uses its money to make a new medication. They get it through a government process to sell to the public. They charge whatever amount they want, which is within their right. The main buyers (insurance companies, Medicaid managed care companies, and the government) then have to figure out how mu

This article by Mark Zdechlik was published today from NPR, Minnesota Public Radio, and Kaiser Health News. After reading it this morning, it threw off my entire day. I wasn't nonplussed that all the people they interviewed were stymied about how the current insurance system works. I wasn't surprised that "only 1 in 5 got the right answer" in regards to this research quiz that required people to know the difference between co-pay, deductible, and coinsurance: "A guy goes to t

In this story from NPR today, Marily Geewax writes, "a just-released analysis of government data shows that as of 2015, middle-income households have become the minority." "And middle-income Americans not only have shrunk as a share of the population but have fallen further behind financially, with their median income down 4 percent compared with the year 2000." I'm not an economist but when I look at a typical middle class budget, a chunk of it goes towards medical expenses

This is an article written by Julie Appleby on NPR. In the world of health insurance companies, there are lots of ways to ensnare providers while squeezing every bit of profit out of consumers as possible. The whole idea of "HMO" and "PPO" falls right in line with this. Interestingly enough, now that people are "forced" to buy insurance, and the government tells the insurance companies that they cannot deny enrolling everyone that asks due to preexisting conditions, the insur

"Name one step we can take to stop gun violence." I was listening to the radio while taking a shower this morning, and this was directed by NPR Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep to Mark Kelly, the husband of Gabby Giffords (the Arizona legislator that was shot in the head by a gunman in 2011). There is no one answer to "fix" gun violence, but I would like to make a few suppositions: People choose to buy a gun. They choose to shoot someone. Thus, at its most basic level, a mass

This was another fantastic article from NPR today, written by Elana Gordon. In this article, real Americans with real jobs and real health concerns discuss how difficult it is to find out what things cost when they finally needed to access the health care system. The couple in the story began to use an "online cost estimator offered through their insurance company." I find it sad that first-off, the insurance companies have to "estimate" anything; since they have a chargemas

This article was written by NPR's Michelle Andrews last week. Imagine that you were required to be in a room full of doughnuts displayed on various stations. Imagine that each station was sponsored by a well-known doughnut maker – Krispy Kreme, Dunkin' Donuts, Shipley (the best!), etc. Imagine that before pushing you into that room full of doughnuts, you were given a nice app on your phone to sift through the different stations and doughnuts to find the one you liked. You cou