“While health-care reformers call for ‘Medicare For All,’ in March the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPac) warned that unless Congress makes some hard decisions about how to contain health-care spending, Medicare won’t be able to sustain its current program — let alone expand coverage to the entire nation. The bad news is that MedPac is […]
“Cancer is part of America … This week many Americans will be busy fighting cancer, holding bowling marathons and running races to raise money for cancer research. Americans receive advice on how to prevent cancer, to stop smoking, eat more vegetables and fruits, stay out of the sun. May is skin cancer awareness month, so […]
“Spring is a beautiful season, if only you could see it through your puffy, bloodshot eyes. For many allergy sufferers, their eyes are on the frontlines of the battle against pollen and dander. Allergic conjunctivitis is the medical term for the all-too-familiar feeling of itchy, watery eyes. For the more than 20 million Americans suffering […]
“Medical cost is the great political football. If a talking head runs out of politically correct subjects that he or she is paid to holler about, the ever-rising cost of health care is right there on the shelf. But what is it? I recounted my experience as a private pay patient earlier. I never did […]
“Intestinal gas is a fact of life. We all produce it to some degree, and most people think they produce too much. But in fact, unless it’s excessive, gas production is a sign of a well-functioning digestive tract and healthful diet. Certain foods, such as beans or Brussels sprouts, have a reputation for causing gas, […]
“Sugary foods and drinks and nonfluoridated bottled water may be helping to rot the teeth of more young U.S. children, reversing four decades of progress against tooth decay, U.S. health officials said on Monday. An estimated 28 percent of U.S. children ages 2 to 5 had a cavity in at least one baby tooth between […]
“The Rev. Eddie Martin was willing to take two drugs, a diuretic and a calcium channel blocker, to get his blood pressure down. But when his doctor decided to add a third pill, a cholesterol-lowering medication, to Martin’s daily medicine regimen, the reverend balked. ‘I just hate taking pills,’ Martin says, ‘and what’s more, with […]
“Remember Woody Allen’s character in the 1973 film Sleeper, who wakes up 200 years in the future to find that steak, cream pies, and hot fudge are considered healthy? Nutritionists are not quite there yet, but Dr. Norman Hollenberg is raising hopes that the secret elixir of life may have less to do with wheat […]
“Only a fraction of patients with hard-to-treat lymphoma ever try two breakthrough ’smart-bomb’ drugs that bring radiation straight to cancerous cells — with just two shots a week apart, not the usual months of care. The marketing failure has a manufacturer trying to sell off one of the drugs, and increasingly frustrated specialists worry it […]
“A 4-year-old boy lay on an operating table a few weeks ago with a tumor that had eaten into his brain and the base of his skull. Standard surgery would involve cutting open his face, leaving an ugly scar and hindering his facial growth as he matured. But doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical […]
