Health Care
5 Stories: Bipartsian ObamaCare Support
Now that health care has passed with no Republican support it’s natural to ask whether this represents a Democratic takeover of government. Fortunately we don’t have to rely on the word of our elected legislators to shed light on this issue, there is another way. This is the last of the 5 Stories articles. ... »
5 Stories: Health Expense
The hardest “easy” story around probably is “where does the US spend its health care money?” Easy because the US has by far the most expensive health care system in the world. One would expect that finding the areas where our spending is significantly higher than other countries would be easy. Easier than finding... »
5 Stories: Heart and Sleep
Recently ABC News (and others) ran a story about how doctors in Sweden discovered an increase in heart attacks every year when the clocks spring forward and similarly a decrease in heart attacks when the clocks fall back. What’s surprising about ABC’s coverage is that the graphics they ran with the story were completely... »
5 Stories: Breast Cancer Screening
Late last year the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released a report that significantly changed the breast cancer screening guidelines for women. They raised the age where mammograms are recommended from 40 to 50. This set off a firestorm in the country and perhaps rightly so as a significant number of cancers are found... »
Abusing Reconciliation?
Datagraphics can be used to inject civility into public debates. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (and others) has been quoted as saying that reconciliation has never been used to pass something like health care before. And people who are pre-disposed to believe what the right says believe him without checking further. And people pre-disposed... »
An Allegorical Tale
Imagine for a moment that the following story is true: Someone very close to me has been experiencing an incredible run of bad luck. Every day for the past few years my friend (let’s call him Paul) gets mugged. The robbers punch him then take his money but they leave his wallet. He’s not hurt... »
Rush Limbaugh’s RAW NERVE
Several sites have been airing a snippet of William Shatner’s new TV show “Raw Nerve“ where he interviews Rush Limbaugh. The part making the rounds is where Shatner asks Limbaugh about health care. It starts like this: Shatner - “Here’s my premise and you agree with it or not: If you have money, you are... »
Overall Health Care Effectiveness
The health care debate has been very vigorous, both in the country and on this website. The Right claims the US has the best health care system in the world. This belief is undoubtedly due to the very low government involvement in US health care system. More government involvement or at least more restrictive... »
Cancer Survival Revisited
This week we’ll briefly revisit the Cancer Survival Rate study. We’re doing this in preparation for an article next week that will present a comprehensive look at all the measures discussed to date of the effectiveness of the US health care system. But first, let’s re-cap the earlier article. A study was recently published... »
Preventable Deaths
An article that’s almost 2 years old has resurfaced recently (link, link, link) that ranks the US as last in preventable deaths among 19 industrialized countries. Most coverage of this story simply cites the statistics without pictures. Last place seems pretty bad, but as we’ve discussed earlier, someone always has to be in last... »
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