Body & Mind
Doctor’s Perspective: Perils and Pitfalls of Corporatized Medicine
by Contributor • • Comments Off on Doctor’s Perspective: Perils and Pitfalls of Corporatized Medicine
Big Pharma’s Lurid Tactics Under Fire In China – And In The US
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Big Pharma’s Lurid Tactics Under Fire In China – And In The US
At first, it was just multinational drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline that allegedly paid bribes in China, including “sexual bribes,” to “government officials, medical associations, hospitals and doctors,” by using travel agencies as conduit. For a total of $489 million. Now more big drugmakers are on the hot seat for the same crimes in China – and in the US.
Is The “Self-Promotion-And-Envy Spiral” Taking Down Facebook?
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Is The “Self-Promotion-And-Envy Spiral” Taking Down Facebook?
Facebook isn’t over the hill, exactly. Last October, it announced that 1 billion people a month used it, in a world of 7 billion. Leaping from one milestone to the next. But in key markets, such as the US where it derives most of its revenues, it is plateauing, and a shudder-inducing D-word has snuck into polite conversation: declining. Now we have a new reason.
Medicare, The Corporate Welfare Program
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Medicare, The Corporate Welfare Program
Congress excels at enriching corporate welfare programs—in this case, Medicare. Ironically, it happened while Congress is struggling to rein in Medicare’s gargantuan deficits with belt-tightening measures that would hit people who paid into the system throughout their working years. This time, the prime beneficiary was Big Pharma, particularly one company….
Paradigm Shift For The Healthcare Expense Monster
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Paradigm Shift For The Healthcare Expense Monster
A sadly familiar theme in the US—the growing ranks of the working poor—was fleshed out today. But the report did something else: it added graphic details to the conundrum of US healthcare spending: while it ballooned to $2.7 trillion, 17.9% of GDP, or $8,680 per capita, households have lowered their share. So have businesses. What gives?
Deaths From All Causes: The Short (But Not Necessarily Happy) Life Of Americans
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Deaths From All Causes: The Short (But Not Necessarily Happy) Life Of Americans
Americans under fifty are paying the price. We don’t know exactly why. Even the panel of experts that authored the massive report, “US Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health,” admits that it can’t entirely pinpoint the reasons. But we do know how Americans under fifty, particularly males, are paying the price: with their lives.
How Americans Stack Up In Dying From Violence, War, Suicide, And Accidents
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on How Americans Stack Up In Dying From Violence, War, Suicide, And Accidents
Now some new fodder for the gun-control debate that the horrid events in Connecticut suddenly stirred into a frenzy, though it had been snoozing through the daily drumbeat of murders in Oakland, CA, a few miles across the Bay from me, or in Richmond to the north, or really in any other city. The fodder is inconvenient, however. For both sides of the debate.
American Consumers Revolt Against Prescription Drugs
by Wolf Richter • • 10 Comments
Anecdotal evidence has been coagulating into numbers, and these numbers are now beginning to weigh down corporate earnings calls. It appears the toughest creature out there, the one that no one has been able to subdue yet, the ever wily and inexplicable American consumer, is having second thoughts about prescription drugs. And is fighting back. A paradigm shift. Causing “unprecedented concerns” in the industry.