Over the decades, I’ve developed a bias that we doctors are fast to say what we know, slow to say what we don’t know, and overly comfortable with 180 degree reversals on prior opinions without so much as a “Sorry! We got this one wrong.” When we’re right, the results can be dramatic. Take our […]
Author: Mike Magee
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The Truth About Coffee
Are you a coffee drinker? More than 130 million Americans are. In fact, the United States accounts for 23% of worldwide coffee consumption. I’m a coffee drinker myself, but it wasn’t until recently that I sat down and really thought about how my morning routine might be affecting my body. As it turns out, coffee […]
In a recent Health Politics piece, I reviewed the facts on the new vaccine for the HPV virus. Following that airing, the governor of Texas moved to make the three-shot vaccination mandatory for adolescent girls in the state. A large public debate ensued, which drew in legislators, school officials, public health professionals and parents — […]
This past week I spent a day in Washington, DC, as part of Bob Kerrey and Newt Gingrich’s National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care. They had arranged a terrific list of expert testimony and the commissioners themselves have decades of experience in the field. They include a senator, a congressman, and two governors. The net result […]
A recent Wall Street Journal article made a direct connection between corn prices and McDonald’s pricing and profitability. And well they should. As outlined in this week’s Health Politics, a visit to fast food outlets in the U.S. and around the world means that you’ll be eating corn (from which the beef, the bun and the […]
Over the years, Tennessee has garnered respect from members of the public health community for taking on health insurance coverage for its citizens. Its TennCare program to cover the poor was not without controversy or challenges over the years, but at least the state acknowledged the problem. Now it’s looking at a new approach aimed at state employers who are […]
In an article titled "It’s the Workforce, Stupid!" in the April 30 issue of The New Yorker, James Surowiecki strategically dips into the issue of corporate downsizing. In the article, he mentions the work of Wayne Cascio from the University of Colorado, Denver, that assessed the performance of 300+ firms who had executed significant layoffs in the 1980s, but […]
