“Over the past few years insurers have heightened pressure on physicians to do what is in their best interest, as opposed to the patient’s. They dock our pay for ordering more tests or using more expensive medications than they deem desirable. They throw obstacles in our paths — really in the way of our patients […]
“The world was riveted when Natalie Holloway went missing in Barbados last year. … In an equally riveting mystery, women have disappeared from the story of attacks on contraception. When the New York Times Magazine published a watershed story in early May, ‘The War on Contraception,’ the Times Web site noted it was their most […]
“I’ve never smoked. I even dislike being near lit cigarettes. (Cigar and pipe-smoke don’t bother me.) Moreover, I’m sure that smoking is addictive and unhealthy. Nevertheless, the ballyhooed ‘tobacco settlement’ announced in June leaves a taste in my mouth far more foul than would be left by choking my way through an entire carton of […]
“Folate and B vitamin pills failed to help keep elderly people’s brains and memories sharp in the longest study yet to test this approach. Some scientists said the study was too small to be the final word, but it was one of the best done so far. The findings were published in today’s New England […]
“Tenet Healthcare Corp. has agreed to pay $725 million to settle federal investigations into the hospital operator’s alleged overbilling of certain Medicare payments before 2003, the company said today. The settlement will be paid over a period of four years and end all federal investigations by the Department of Justice and several U.S. attorneys, Tenet […]
“Obesity isn’t all about eating and inactivity, says an international group of researchers. Just about everywhere you look, doctors are blaming America’s obesity epidemic on two things: too much food — especially widely marketed fast food and junk food — and too little exercise, with too much time in front of the TV. But we’re […]
“Jimbo tries to be cautious these days. The middle-age heroin user says he buys only from dealers he knows — a hedge against getting heroin mixed with the pain-reliever fentanyl, a concoction that has killed at least 150 people in recent months. Many of his friends, though, seek out fentanyl-laced heroin for its potent high, […]
“State officials are expected to decide by as early as tomorrow the minimum amount businesses must pay for employees’ healthcare to avoid the $295 per worker annual fee that is a key component of healthcare reform. Business leaders have been urging the state to waive the fee for any company that offers an insurance plan, […]
“Let there be no doubt that the war on malaria has failed. It is estimated that 800,000 children in Africa die from the disease every year, and as many as three million people altogether every year. We know how people contract it: from mosquitoes. We know how to control it: kill the carrier mosquitoes. And […]
“Does debt have a color? Of course red symbolizes debt, but in borrowing, does it matter to minority students and their families whom they are borrowing from? A new business announced Wednesday believes it may matter. Robert L. Johnson, the founder of the BET empire and the first black billionaire, has created a loan business […]
