Bioethics & Health Disparities

Bioethics, Health Disparities and Medical Life…

The Future of Primary Medical Care

In this issue, Linzer and colleagues found that family practitioners and general internists report high levels of unhappiness about time pressures and practice pace, little sense of control over work conditions, and deficient organizational culture. Primary care as an indispensable set of functions will persist in one form or another; the challenge is to organize it as part of an integrated system that serves the needs of both patients and physicians, enhances quality, and keeps costs within reasonable limits.

Read full text at Annals (subscription required)

Filed under: 1. US, Research

The Bradley Effect

THREE weeks to Election Day and polls project a victory, possibly a big one, for Barack Obama.

Yet everywhere, anxious Democrats wring their hands. They’ve seen this Lucy-and-the-football routine before, and they’re just waiting for their ball to be snatched away, the foiled Charlie Browns again. Remember how the exit polls in 2004 predicted President Kerry? Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: 1. US, Race

A Decline in Uninsured

WASHINGTON — After climbing steadily for six years, the number of Americans without health insurance dropped by more than a million in 2007, to 45.7 million, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

The drop was the result of growth in government-sponsored health insurance programs, officials said, most of them focused on children. At the same time, the number of people covered by private insurance continued to decline. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: 1. US, Health

Who Really Pays for Healthcare

When asked who pays for health care in the United States, the usual answer is “employers, government, and individuals.” Most Americans believe that employers pay the bulk of workers’ premiums and that governments pay for Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and other programs. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: 1. US, Economics