Routine cancer screening is essential to detect cancers early when it is most curable. The consequence of millions of people missing cancer screenings because of the COVID pandemic is a delay in detecting cancer, which results in cancer progressing to a more advanced stage. According to a study published in JAMA Oncology, a publication of the American Medical Association, nearly 22 million cancer screenings in the U.S. failed to happen because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Month: December 2021
The demand quickly exceeded supply after the FDA approved once-weekly semaglutide injections. Semaglutide’s study results were enough to warrant plenty of hype for obesity treatment. The drug got a PR boost from Marc Andreessen, who called semaglutide a “silver bullet” and “miracle drug” for suppressing appetite. Unfortunately, the hype is going to exceed reality.
When obesity has become a national health crisis caused by overeating and lack of exercise, a body positivity website has created free “Don’t Weigh Me” cards for patients who find stepping on the scale at the doctor’s office stressful. The group supports a “Health at Every Size” philosophy, based around the assumption that “the current practice of linking weight to health using BMI (body mass Index) standards is biased and unhelpful.” An analysis predicts that by 2030, 48.9% of adults in the United States will be obese, and 24.2% will be severely obese.
With days to go before Christmas, Americans are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Of reworking plans to adapt to the latest virus risks. Of searching for at-home tests and not finding them. Of wondering whether, after two years of avoiding Covid-19, or surviving it, or getting vaccinated and maybe even boosted, Omicron is the variant they inevitably catch. (N.Y. Times). Will this affect healthcare?
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), in 2021, the average cost of employee health insurance premiums for family coverage increased by 4% from the previous year to $22,221. The average annual premiums for an individual’s plan also increased 4% to $7,739 this year. Why haven’t more employers addressed the rising costs of employee healthcare with value-based care?
The public has been told that pharma needs money to develop new drugs, but unfortunately, that’s a huge lie. As biopharmadive recently, “some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies, sitting on large and growing sums of cash, are funneling those funds into major share buyback programs and acquisitions of smaller biotech companies.
(Axios) Second-quarter results are still pouring in, but so far, a vast majority of health care companies are reporting profits that many people assumed would not have been possible as the pandemic continued. Drug sales fell across many pharma companies but cutting administrative and research costs kept earnings at industry highs.
The concept that a medical app can replace a health care professional is myopic. At best, health apps can alert users to potential problems, but only a trained health care professional can diagnose problems.