Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us

This recent Time magazine article is opening the eyes of many people to hospital billing practices. This is a meticulously researched article that gives eight case studies along with comparisons of many hospital charges for non insured people compared to private and Medicare insured patients and the numbers are astounding! Also gives numbers on profits and CEO salaries which are also eye opening. No wonder medical bills cause 60% of the bankruptcies in the US.
For those of you without the fortitude to read the 24,000 word 36 page article below, I have also included a 3 minute video of the author Steven Brill discussing the book.

Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us author Steven Brill interview

Mediterranean Diet Shown to Ward Off Heart Attack and Stroke

Low-fat diets have not been shown in any rigorous way to be helpful, and they are also very hard for patients to maintain. “Now along comes this group and does a gigantic study in Spain that says you can eat a nicely balanced diet with fruits and vegetables and olive oil and lower heart disease by 30 percent,” he said. “And you can actually enjoy life.” 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/health/mediterranean-diet-can-cut-heart-disease-study-finds.html?hp

America flunks its health exam

A just-released report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council is making news by clearly illustrating that Americans have "shorter lives and poorer health." This is somewhat shocking, given how much we spend on health care each year — more than any of the 16 other rich countries surveyed in the study. What's even more upsetting is that this report focused quite heavily on people who are young. In the United States, even that group fared poorly. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/11/opinion/carroll-health-study/index.html?iid=article_sidebar