Holiday Greetings: What is Health?

Magee Grandchildren In this country, we continue to struggle in answering the fundamental question “What is health?” A large part of our thought process has involved defining what health is not. It is not the health care system. It is not the reactive elimination of disease. It is not a simple commodity to be weighed against all […]

When Knowledge Creates Potential for Demand: MRI Detection of Silent MI’s.

Mike Magee In the November 10th issue of JAMA, devoted to cardiovascular disease, David Bluemke, NIH Director of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, and his team, revealed a set of findings certain to draw mixed reviews from health economists and policy professionals. It seems that quite a few more people than we had realized are walking […]

Sustainable Prevention: At The Intersection of America’s Two Most Powerful Social Networks

Mike Magee Last week, I made a quick trip to Washington – one day, back and forth, from Hartford, CT. I was there to seek advice from an old friend as we complete planning for the second decade of the Rocking Chair Project. This early childhood intervention program targets young, economically disadvantaged, expectant mothers, supporting […]

The 2015 VA Assessment Report – Whose Interests Would It Serve?

Mike Magee To say the VA is a huge enterprise is a bit of an understatement. Over 9 million patients in a system with nearly 300,000 employees (including 20,000 doctors) and an annual budget just under $60 billion. If the system is big, it is also controversial, and has been for a long, long time. […]

Medicare Part D Transparency: Are We Healthier or Simply Poorer?

Mike Magee This has been a week focused on drugs – not illegal drugs, prescription drugs. If you like health policy, and you like controversy, pharmaceuticals is the place to be. On the one side you find Americans, with all their ills, real and imagined, hoping for a “miracle cure”, a quick fix that avoids […]

Why Hillary Clinton’s Private Email Matters: Transparency and Health.

Mike Magee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to avoid the transparency that was assured by the Freedom of Information Act should be of concern to all Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike. If this is true for the general public, it goes doubly for anyone concerned with improving the health of our […]

Your Annualized Personalized Health Check-up

Ralph Snyderman M.D. In a January 10, 2015 editorial in the NewYork Times, Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel derides the annual physical exam as a multi-billion dollar waste of time. The exam in current practice is indeed ineffective in preventing disease and reflects the inadequacy of a reactive approach to health care which costs almost $3 trillion/year of […]

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