We're very clearly in favor of vaccines here at Healthcare Triage, because they save a LOT of lives. It turns out, the measles vaccine was doing more than we previously thought. Getting infected with measles doesn't only make you sick,...

Up to 25% of health spending in the US is wasteful. Where is that money being lost? What can we do about it?

In this last episode of our six-part series on vaccinations, supported by the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation, we cover vaccine development - particularly in the context of the current global pandemic. We discuss...

Alzheimer’s disease is no stranger in the news cycle. The latest headlines are dedicated to a new study on how the brain keeps itself clean, a process which scientists have long suspected to be involved in the disease. Let's take a look.

There’s a lot of talk about “natural immunity” to Covid-19, and some people are refusing vaccination on the grounds that they’ve got this natural immunity thanks to a previous Covid-19 infection. In this episode we take a look at how...

American healthcare spending is still WAY higher than pretty much all other industrialized countries. But not that long ago, things were different. The US didn't spend nearly as much in this realm. What changed? Demographics? More...

In recent years, life expectancy in the US has been dropping. A significant contributor to that drop has been deaths of despair. Drug overdoses and suicides have increased in tandem with the opioid crisis, and the outcome is shorter...

Medication costs continue to rise with no sign of slowing down amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. But there are ways to pay less for your prescriptions. Here's what you need to know.

There are several news studies that confirm what we've been saying for years. Vitamin D supplements don't do much, and are unnecessary for just about everybody.

The Trump administration has put forth a rule change for immigration saying that if an immigrant gets one of a number of benefits from the government, it could lead to their being denied legal permanent residency or entry to the US. Will...

We've been talking a lot about the state of cancer research in the HCT Podcast, and now the Nobel prize in medicine is going to cancer researchers. So that's pretty cool. Check out some of the amazing (and amazingly expensive) treatments...

Alcohol regulations work better than expected, ACA exchanges might not. This is Healthcare Triage News.

There are many, many factors that contribute to high drug prices. Regulating them is complicated. It turns out, expensive drugs are often expensive because they're hard to replicate. We try to shed some light on the situation.

A recent study had a lot of negative things to say about diet sodas, but how seriously should we take that study? Observational research can be powerful and useful, but it can also lead to shaky outcomes. So, what does this study tell us...

A study published in the International Journal of Cancer reports that use of hair dyes and chemical straighteners, particularly among black women, is associated with a higher risk of breast cancer. We look into this a little more.

Aaron Carroll answers your coronavirus questions. 00:33 - What's the deal with NSAIDS? Should we avoid things like ibuprofen now to be safe? 01:47 - Can you do things outside in suburban areas like walk your dog or play basketball? Can...

The old chestnut that eating red meat leads to cancer is back! A study last week claimed that eating red meat increased cancer risks by up to 28 percent! This sounds scary, but this study has a lot of problems.

It turns out, hospital and health system consolidations can result in worse outcomes for patients. These mergers reduce competition, and it turns out that hospitals compete more often on quality than they do on prices. The result is that...

Today we're talking about Wegovy, which is a new prescription drug approved to treat obesity. It's also called semaglutide, and it was initially approved to treat diabetes, but studies have indicated it is effective for weight loss....

The federal response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been criticized as somewhat...disorganized. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have outlined a plan for how their administration would approach the pandemic, should they be elected to the White...

Last year, the Trump administration stopped making cost sharing payments to insurance companies who operate on the Obamacare exchanges, and all that saved government loot has now gone to increased subsidies. A recent court decision means...

Aaron's back answering your submitted questions about things related to the COVID-19. If you'd like to submit a question for a future episode you can do so at healthcaretriage.info 00:22 MYTH: Vitamin D/vitamin C/Echinacea/essential oils...

The Trump administration has released Medicaid report cards, which allow citizens and health care journalists to look at the results of Medicaid, state by state. The good news: our beloved Indiana is doing OK! The bad news, there's a lot...

There's a lot going on this week, and also a lot that's NOT happening. The ACA's health insurance exchanges are wrapping up the open enrollment window this week. If you need insurance, or want to shop around GO NOW and look for...