The pandemic may have slowed the city, but it hasn’t stopped it. Starting well before dawn, essential workers toil at factories and markets and restaurants. Some remain deep into the night; the lucky ones work from home. Parks and beaches and hiking trails beckon those desperate for a break. But COVID-19 has not been an… Read More One day, many realities, as COVID-19 cuts an uneven swath across L.A.
WASHINGTON — In his State of the Union address, President Trump announced a bold plan to end the scourge of H.I.V. by 2030, a promise that seemed to fly in the face of two years of policies and proposals that go in the opposite direction and could undermine progress against the virus that causes AIDS.… Read More Trump Pledged to End H.I.V. But His Policies Veer the Other Way.
Cannabis has downsides, but speculation and fear should be replaced with the best evidence available. Are we underestimating the harms of legalizing marijuana? Those who hold this view have been in the news recently, saying that research shows we are moving too far too fast without understanding the damage. America is in the midst of… Read More The Reasonable Way to View Marijuana’s Risks
Walking into a doctor’s office or hospital can be intimidating. But when you go armed with the right tools and frame of mind, you can walk out of that appointment or hospital stay feeling more confident and satisfied. Learn how to ask your questions, either for yourself or a loved one, figure out your various… Read More How to Take Charge of Your Medical Care
An X-ray for knee pain. A CT scan for a head injury. Mammograms every other year, starting at age 50. Over a typical lifetime of radiation exposure from medical tests, a person can start to wonder: How much is too much? There’s no formula for answering that, experts say, in part because the health effects… Read More Mammograms, CT scans, X-rays: Assessing the risk of all that radiation
‘Don’t reflexively call an ambulance,’ a Harvard researcher says. In many cases, a cheaper way makes sense. An ambulance ride of just a few miles can cost thousands of dollars, and a lot of it may not be covered by insurance. With ride-hailing services like Uber or Lyft far cheaper and now available within minutes… Read More Uber, Lyft and the Urgency of Saving Money on Ambulances
Patients are facing delays in diagnosis because of severe shortages among pathology staff, according to a report seen by the BBC. A survey by the Royal College of Pathologists found only 3% of the NHS histopathology departments that responded had enough staff. Histopathologists are doctors and scientists who diagnose and study diseases such as cancer.… Read More Pathologists shortage ‘delaying cancer diagnosis’
It takes only a glance at a hospital bill or at the myriad choices you may have for health care coverage to get a sense of the bewildering complexity of health care financing in the United States. That complexity doesn’t just exact a cognitive cost. It also comes with administrative costs that are largely hidden… Read More Hidden From View: The Astonishingly High Administrative Costs of U.S. Health Care
Here’s a list of things I did before starting this newsletter: I filled out the documents to renew my passport; clipped my cat’s nails; bought some household items; responded to a few Instagram DMs; and ate a snack because I was hungry. Sound familiar? Some of those tasks were relatively urgent — I need to… Read More Why Your Brain Tricks You Into Doing Less Important Tasks Yet again, your brain is working against you, and it’s because of a phenomenon called the urgency effect.
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