Bezoars galore!

At the request of our dear co-director, Taylor, I am sharing this health issue with you all here on the blog. My sister, a med student, recently brought to my attention the existence of bezoars as she was studying the gastrointestinal system.
What's a bezoar, you might ask? Perhaps if you recall from the Harry Potter series, they are commonly referenced as a magical stone from the stomach of a goat that works as an antidote to poisons. However, on a more general level, bezoars are conglomerations of undigested material that form in the stomach (i.e., hairballs).

Now here comes the gross part. Being the inquisitive "life-learner" that the University of Michigan has trained me to be, I decided to google "bezoars." I came across this article from CNN about a girl who had a 10lb bezoar removed from her stomach. Since the picture isn't with that story, I found it here. (Beware, it's mildly disturbing).
Lessons learned: 1. Never eat your own hair; and 2. Hairballs (and curiosity, of course) can kill cats and humans.

Banning or Taxing Bad Health Habits

Sanjay Gupta (one of our favorite alums) asks some important questions about taxing/banning unhealthy products (i.e. cigarettes, sugary drinks) in his blog.  I know some of us have discussed this before, but the conversation needs to continue since solutions have not been widely adopted to address this issue.  Share your thoughts on the issue!

p.s. Check out our page on the Roosevelt website for a great picture capturing the Michael Moore/Sanjay Gupta showdown last year.

Improving Health Care for the Poorest- A TED Talk

Here's a link to a TED talk given by Dr. Ernest Madu who runs the Heart Institute of the Caribbean in Kingston, Jamaica.  He proposes that with careful design, smart technical choices, and a true desire to serve, it is possible to offer world-class health care in the developing world. 

It's definitely worth watching!

And with that, I'm done blogging for the day because I'm starting to feel like Perez Hilton 

A Public Plan for Health Insurance?

Check out this Editorial from the NYTimes today.

Yes, I'm going crazy blogging today!

Google Health Care

If you haven't seen it yet, check it out...Google Health

I'm definitely in favor of moving towards electronic medical records but it's somewhat scary that Google has already created a program to do so.  The goals of Google Health are to:

• Organize your health information all in one place.
• Gather your medical records from doctors, hospitals and pharmacies
• Share your information securely with a family member, doctors or caregivers

I really don't know what to make of Google Health.  Will it be necessary to have a third party, such as Google, maintain electronic records in the future?

Medicare-No Longer Accepted

We're used to Medicaid patients being turned away.  The Medicaid program pays out at a lower fee schedule than Medicare and private insurance companies.  Doctors tell us that it's not manageable for them to take on Medicaid patients, they just can't afford to.

Now a new problem has arisen.  Increasingly, Medicare patients are being turned away.  I came across this article in the New York Times just a few days ago about how more and more doctors are opting out of Medicare.  In particular, specialists (i.e. psychologists, gastroenterologists, etc...) have been turning Medicare patients away.  

The doctors' reasons: reimbursement rates are too low and paperwork too much of a hassle...Doctors who have opted out of Medicare can charge whatever they want, but they cannot bill Medicare for reimbursement, nor may their patients.

The article also highlights that there is a national shortage of internists (primary care doctors who deals with adults) and among practicing internists, many are unwilling to accept Medicare patients.  

Is this the beginning of the end for Medicare?  Will the government be forced to address health care reform now that one of the most important constituencies in this debate (those represented by AARP) is facing hardships?  I have long believed that a breakdown in Medicare would be the catalyst for major health care reform.  I think we have finally reached the point where funneling more money into Medicare is no longer an option, rising health care and drug costs must be curbed by a system wide reform.  First, however, we need to get a Health and Human Services Secretary in office.