Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Processing the ultraprocessed food phobia

For much of the world, simply getting enough calories to sustain life is a daily challenge. Among the relatively affluent citizens in the west, wave after wave of dietary fashions encourage us to medicalize food. A recent example is the demonization of “processed” and “ultraprocessed” foods. This has been validated by the Trump nominee for […]

Prediction: RFK Jr. will be confirmed

My track record in prophecy is certainly mixed, but based on what I’ve seen so far, RFK Jr will be the next HHS secretary. He’s certainly no more unqualified than Pete Hegseth is to be secretary of defense, and it looks like Hegseth is headed for approval. “Amid reports that the adults in Donald Trump’s […]

Supreme Court case seeks to make it harder to get screened for cancer and other tests

Briefly: I did not have much of a chance to dive into to this last night. Just briefly reviewing it. The case is covering preventative care as determined by the US Preventive Services Task Force (PSTF). The PSTF currently requires insurers to cover “more than 50 preventive services.” This includes “screenings to detect lung, cervical, and colorectal […]

A Bad Choice for Military Families and Vets

Steve Early and Suzanne Gordon have been advocating for veterans, the VA, and VA healthcare well beyond my introduction to them years ago. Steve had helped me early on and gave me a contact to use if needed. If Suzanne and Steve are writing about it, it is an issue. I know the Washington pols […]

PFAs Impacting Americans’ Drinking Water

r.j. sigmund:Toxic PFAs impacting Americans’ drinking water via treated wastewater: Study — Nearly 7 percent of Americans may be exposed to hazardous levels of “forever chemicals” through treated municipal wastewater, a new study has found. These approximately 23 million people may be consuming these toxic compounds, also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in their […]

True Costs of Employee Healthcare

Maggie Mahar would cite Phillip Longman and his book the Best Care Anywhere when she was on her own blog and also at Angry Bear afterwards. Mr. Longman has a history of detailing the healthcare given by the Veterans Administration. His proposal then was commercial healthcare should be replaced by a similar organization such as […]

Making Drugs Affordable for All

I am running late on posting for tomorrow. This piece by Merrill Goozner of GoozNews is one half of his piece on pharmaceuticals. The article is entitled “A plan to make drugs affordable for all.” The link is GoozNews above. You can read the entire article, scroll down to “Trust Bust,” or just click on […]