“. . . one of us cared for a bedridden patient with chest pain who spent 47 hours in an ER hallway before a spot became available in the cardiac unit.” [Clayton Dalton and Daniel Tonellato, November 30]
“My view includes Cabell County, where there were just eight new HIV diagnoses a year for the past six years until late last year. Since then, 81 people have been diagnosed through the end of October 2019, with one to two new cases being recognized each week.” [Judith Feinberg, December 1]
“Women with a severe, work-limiting, permanent impairment are 20 percentage points more likely to be rejected [for disability benefits] than men.” [NBER, December 2]
“Doctors and other health care professionals have to decide whether the marginal benefits of a new drug or higher quality scan is worth the additional price. But if the new drug costs roughly the same price as the old drug and the highest quality scan costs just a few hundred dollars (the cost of the electricity and the time of the professionals operating the machine and reading the scan), then there is little reason not to prescribe the best available treatment. Patent monopoly pricing in these areas creates large and needless problems.” [Dean Baker, November 29]
Photo: Snuff bottle with stopper. Cleveland Museum of Art. Used under a Creative Commons license.