Want to Get More Healthcare Bills Passed? Fix the Filibuster, Suggests a Senator
WASHINGTON — The Senate could get a lot more done on healthcare and other issues if the rules for holding a filibuster were changed, a senator and his former chief of staff said Wednesday. “Think about, for example, drug prices, where 80% of Americans think every drug should be negotiated so we get the same […]
Opinion | ‘Science Is Not Done on Rumble’: What We Heard This Week
“Science is not done on Rumble.” — Katrine Wallace, PhD, of the University of Illinois in Chicago, commenting on the anti-vaccine documentary “Died Suddenly” that premiered on Twitter and Rumble earlier this month. “COVID or not, most physicians go to work even if they’re not feeling 100 percent.” — Joel Zivot, MD, of Emory University […]
Opinion | ‘An Unreasonable Amount of Work That’s Expected to Be Done’: What We Heard This Week
“There’s kind of an unreasonable amount of work that’s expected to be done.” — Justin Porter, MD, of the University of Chicago, on his simulation study that found primary care doctors would need nearly 27 hours a day to do all the work they’re expected to do. “They think about lack of sexual activity on […]
Opinion | ‘Don’t Let Me Die in Pain,’ My Patient Pleaded
I still recall the look on my patient’s face and her words 2 years later. “I am done with this life,” she told me. “Don’t let me die in pain,” she added as she folded her hands to physically plead with me. I simply cannot convey in words how painful it was to witness the […]
Researchers unveil a secret of stronger metals: Study shows what happens when crystalline grains in metals reform at nanometer scales, improving metal properties
Forming metal into the shapes needed for various purposes can be done in many ways, including casting, machining, rolling, and forging. These processes affect the sizes and shapes of the tiny crystalline grains that make up the bulk metal, whether it be steel, aluminum or other widely used metals and alloys. Now researchers at MIT […]
Medicare Beneficiaries Need More Help Navigating the Program, Experts Say
More needs to be done to help Medicare beneficiaries — especially low-income beneficiaries — navigate their participation in the program, several experts said Friday. “Low-income Medicare beneficiaries navigate complex and fragmented sources of insurance coverage … not just within Medicare, between the choice of a Medicare Advantage plan or traditional Medicare, but also from the […]
How Can the U.S. Avoid Another COVID-19 Stockpile Disaster?
WASHINGTON — What can be done to prevent poor federal responses to disasters, such as the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) that was woefully under-stocked when COVID-19 hit? That’s the question addressed in a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). Responding to public health emergencies has largely been under the […]
More Work Needed to Clean Up Polluted Drinking Water, Experts Tell House Members
WASHINGTON — Not enough is being done to get chemical contaminants out of U.S. waterways, witnesses and lawmakers agreed during a hearing on challenges to water quality held by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. “The last administration needlessly weakened Clean Water Act provisions over rivers, streams, and […]
Delta on the Decline? Not So Fast
It’s a familiar refrain, those prominent voices claiming we’re all but done with the pandemic of the century. Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, told the New York Times this week he thought the U.S. was riding out “the last major wave of infection.” Writer David Leonhardt concluded in the same newsletter, “the worst of […]