By: Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD April 16th begins a week of National Healthcare Decisions Day. Hopefully this week will encourage honest discussions not only about a so-called “good death” but the value of an individual’s life. I am not optimistic, given the trend toward consciously or unconsciously steering patients toward “death with dignity” rather […]
By Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD In an entertainment venue called the “Escape Room,” participants are locked inside a themed adventure room, and they must figure out how to escape. Themes include prisons, KGB interrogation, and hostage situations. Perhaps a new theme could be ObamaCare. Despite a large majority of Americans reporting healthcare as their […]
By Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD Some pundits blamed algorithmic trading for the stock market’s recent wild ride. “Algo-trading” relies on computers programmed to follow defined instructions for placing trades. For example, the computer buys 50 shares of stock when its 50-day moving average goes above the 200-day moving average. Period. Algo-trading was popularized as […]
By Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD Black history month is a time to celebrate Americans whose accomplishments are sometimes overshadowed by the eye-catching negative news stories. It was discomfiting to watch the State of the Union address while black congresspersons churlishly sat with their arms crossed even as President Trump announced that black unemployment was […]
By Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD Watching the news coverage of this year’s “Women’s March” was more disheartening than inspiring. Some participants wore odd sexually suggestive caps. Many carried signs dominated by anti-President Trump slogans—some displaying obscene language—in front of children, no less. To be fair, “women’s rights are human rights” was more popular than […]
By: Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD The U.S. “health care system” continues to be a costly behemoth. Health care costs were the number one financial concern for 17 percent of families in 2017—tthe same level as it was in 2007 pre-Affordable Care Act era. And only 18 percent of those polled said the Affordable Care Act […]
By Marilyn Singleton, MD, JD: More than 50 years ago Professor Marshall McLuhan posited that the medium is the message. Now it seems that money is the medium of the message. This month Medical Marketing and Media magazine published its 2017 Health Influencer 50, a “list of professionals across the health care spectrum.” The magazine […]
By Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD We are living in strange times. Virtual money, virtual friends, virtual reality. And regrettably, we are currently burdened with virtual leaders and virtual health insurance coverage. Last month’s Gallup poll revealed that by a huge margin the “most important problem facing the country today” was dissatisfaction with the government. […]
By Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD Have we lost our collective minds? A mass shooting with no readily apparent motive is an extreme representation of our sense that our social fabric is unraveling. This is one of those things that people don’t believe can happen until it happens. And despite the unspeakable tragedy, it took […]
By Marilyn M. Singleton, M.D., J.D. California’s state senate’s unipartisan passing of a sweeping single-payer health care bill, the Healthy California Act, has drawn attention to single payer as a solution to the decaying Affordable Care Act. The ACA decreased competition and plan availability in health insurance and leaves patients holding the bag of unaffordable […]