How The Civil War Drove Medical Innovation – And The Pandemic Could, Too

The current COVID-19 pandemic, the largest public health crisis in a century, threatens the health of people across the globe.

COVID-19 has placed a spotlight on the inequities of Canada’s current “curative” health-care system and the problems associated with viewing health policy in isolation from social factors.

A return to pre-pandemic normal life seems impossible for the foreseeable future. In the absence of control measures, it would result in the rapid spread of coronavirus and many deaths.

Broad access to testing is one of the most powerful tools to keep the COVID-19 pandemic under control until there’s an effective vaccine in use.

On Sunday, New Zealand marked 100 days without community transmission of COVID-19. From the first known case imported into New Zealand on February 26 to the last case of community transmission detected on May 1, elimination took 65 days.

Research shows that doctors who offer empathic and positive messages can reduce a patient’s pain, improve their recovery after surgery and lower the amount of morphine they need.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought once-in-a-generation destruction to the lives and livelihoods of people around the world.

In March, 10,000 NHS staff signed a letter to UK prime minister Boris Johnson demanding better protection against COVID-19.

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the U.S., the virus hit African Americans disproportionately hard. African Americans are still contracting the illness – and dying from it

Rural areas seemed immune as the coronavirus spread through cities earlier this year. Few rural cases were reported, and attention focused on the surge of illnesses and deaths in the big metro areas.

Each government has responded differently to the coronavirus pandemic — including how data on the disease have been shared with each country’s citizens.

While no country claims to be pursuing herd immunity as a strategy, some – such as Sweden – have taken a more relaxed approach to containing the coronavirus.

One of the haunting images of this pandemic will be stationary cruise ships – deadly carriers of COVID-19 – at anchor in harbours and unwanted. Docked in ports and feared.

To understand the spread of COVID-19, the pandemic is more usefully viewed as a series of distinct local epidemics. The way the virus has spread in different countries, and even in particular states or regions within them, has been quite varied.

In these difficult times, the press and the public are piling complaints on governments and corporations over their responses to the pandemic.

As of April 21, the country had reported 268 cases of COVID-19, the disease associated with the new coronavirus, with more than 140 people making a full recovery.

Daily updated graphs illustrating the rising COVID-19 death rates in different countries raise hopes that we can understand the impact of the virus and work out how to stop it from spreading further. 

US President Donald Trump has announced the US is cutting its funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) – a decision that will have major implications for the global health response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Consider these two questions: What percentage of Americans are, or have been, infected with the coronavirus?

Lockdown, which one-third of the world is currently experiencing, is nothing new. Lockdown is a form of quarantine, a practise used to try to stem the spread of disease for hundreds of years by controlling humans.

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how doctors provide health care. This public health crisis has shifted the paradigm on how Canadians access medical care and has ushered in the new era of telemedicine.

The Australian government today announced new telehealth consultations will be covered under the Medicare Benefits Schedule.

Toilet paper shortages, profiteering from hand sanitizer and empty shelves in grocery stores.

From Homer’s Iliad and Boccaccio’s Decameron to Stephen King’s The Stand and Ling Ma’s Severance, stories about pandemics have offered much  on how human beings respond to public health crises.

One month after what is now the coronavirus pandemic was declared a “public health emergency of international concern”, it is now causing disruption all round the world on an unprecedented scale.

Price transparency is the wrong goal for the free-market health care structure we have in the U.S. Instead, consumers need to know not so much the price, but the costs of things.

2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the great influenza pandemic of 1918. Between 50 and 100 million people are thought to have died, representing as much as 5 percent of the world’s population. Half a billion people were infected.

A potential crisis simmers in the shadows: The global dependence on China for the production of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.

As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold, travel restrictions are being imposed around the world.

No one should have to beg for money to get the healthcare they need in the richest country on Earth.

Make no mistake, how we pay for healthcare in the US is broken for many individuals and for many communities. Like a tire with a slow leak, without immediate repair, the outlook for the largest industry in the US economy is bleak.

Trump wants to destroy Medicaid while claiming to save it. This fiendish scheme is an Orwellian fable conjured up by the most shameless pack of liars to ever occupy our government.

Across the political spectrum, there is near consensus among these economists that a single-payer system would save money.

Partisan wrangling over health reform has perhaps been the most acrimonious issue in Americans politics, exemplified by the failed Clinton health reform efforts in the 1990s and the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

Recently Ontario released its Digital First for Health strategy — aiming to further digitize health care and end the problem of overcrowded hospitals and “hallway medicine.”

Generic prescription drugs have saved the U.S. about US$1.7 trillion over the past decade. The Food and Drug Administration approved a record 781 new generics in 2018 alone, including generic versions of Cialis, Levitra and Lyrica.

The are tremendous health disparities rural Americans face, in terms of both their own health and accessing care.

NBC News’ speaks to doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital about how they are coping with drug shortages and the reason they think it is happening.

The Democratic presidential debates, which resume Sept. 12, have highlighted a deep disagreement over the future American health care system.

Presidential candidates and other politicians have talked about the rural health crisis in the U.S., but they are not telling rural Americans anything new. 

Health care is Americans’ number-one priority, based on recent polls, so it’s no wonder it’s been a hot topic in the Democratic primary.

An important new study in the United States has found doctors who receive just one cheap meal from a drug company tend to prescribe a lot more of that company’s products.

Most people expect hospital treatment to make them better. But for some, a stay in hospital can actually make them sicker. 

The devastating health effects of the opioid epidemic have been well documented, with over 700,000 overdose deaths and millions more affected.

As I spoke recently with colleagues at a conference in Florence, Italy about health care innovation, a fundamental truth resurfaced in my mind: the U.S. health care industry is just that.

Hardly a week goes by without another story in the media covering a family somewhere in America dealing with an outrageous medical bill.

The current outbreak of measles has startled public health practitioners, who declared measles controlled over two decades ago.

Medical robots are helping doctors and other professionals save time, lower costs and shorten patient recovery times, but patients may not be ready.

From the valsartan blood pressure drug contamination that exposed thousands of patients to cancer-causing impurities, to a massive pacemaker recall undertaken to fix a hazardous software bug in half-a-million cardiac devices, health care product quality problems are ever-present and highly dangerous.

President Trump promised to protect healthcare for people with pre-existing conditions, but his administration is now fighting to throw out the entire Affordable Care Act. Ali Velshi is joined by Kentucky

Ontario Premier Doug Ford may be planning a two-tiered, profit-driven health-care system, according to the Toronto Star. This is clearly the wrong solution to the health-care woes of the province, and the nation as a whole.

Weeks after my father passed away from cancer in 2010, my newly widowed mother received a bill for US$11,000.

Imagine there was a store where there were no prices on items, and you never knew what you’d pay until you’d picked out your purchases and were leaving the shop.

The doctor was desperate. ‘I need to talk to my patients,’ she said, ‘and give them time to ask questions.

The United States spends much more per person on health care than other developed countries. But it’s largely because prices are higher, not because Americans get more care, according to a new study.

When low-income Michigan residents enrolled in an expanded Medicaid program, many got more than just coverage for their health needs—they also got a boost to their wallets, according to a new study.

Living and working conditions are the primary causes of good health, and disease and premature death as well. Far more than eating green vegetables and going to the gym more often, living and working conditions have a big impact on health. This has been known in Canada since at least the mid-1850s and any visitor to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s website will find ample documentation of this fact.

The VA has long been in crisis. Nevertheless, it has pioneered evidence-based medicine and, overall, gets better outcomes at lower costs than many private health care providers.

The U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world. So why does it underperform relative to many peer countries by most measures?

If you could take a test that would reveal the diseases you and your family might be more likely to get, would you want to do it?

Almost all parties agree that the health care system in the U.S., which is responsible for about 17 percent of our GDP, is badly broken.

So far, policymakers have tried to reduce costs by tinkering with how care is delivered. But focusing on care delivery to save money is like trying to reduce the costs of house fires by focusing on firefighters and fire stations.

Public support for single-payer health care has been rising in recent months amid failed Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

“A crippling problem.” “A total epidemic.” “A problem like nobody understands.” These are the words President Trump used to describe the opioid epidemic ravaging the country during a White House listening session in March.

Disability is often incorrectly assumed to be rare. However, global estimates suggest than one in seven adults has some form of disability.

Two seemingly unrelated national policy debates are afoot, and we can’t adequately address one unless we address the other.

It is easier than ever to buy stuff. You can purchase almost anything on Amazon with a click, and it is only slightly harder to find a place to stay in a foreign city on Airbnb.

Much has been made of the distress and discontent in rural areas during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Few realize, however, this is also felt through unequal health.

I was beyond frustrated. I felt extremely hopeless. I believed that I had zero options, despite the fact that I could no longer remain in the same physical or mental state. My bills had piled up so much I was about to get evicted. I had to do something. I got into my uninsured car and drove myself back to the E.R.

With the passage of the Republicans’ health care act, the House of Representatives seems to be saying that coming up with a plan to insure Americans really wasn’t all that hard after all.

As a neonatologist, I worry about patients with pulmonary hypertension. This unforgiving disease, sometimes seen after premature birth, can end with sudden death from constricting blood vessels in the lungs.

'We have got to end the international disgrace of being the only major country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people as a right not a privilege.'

Republicans have tirelessly campaigned to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a conservative, market-based approach to health care.

As House Republicans labor to define a new plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, often called “Obamacare,” public support for the 2010 legislation is at an all-time high, according to a national survey taken in January.

Plans put forth by House Speaker Paul Ryan and HHS Secretary Tom Price are 'unlikely' to fulfill President Donald Trump's campaign promises—'but single payer could'

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Feb. 9 upheld the restraining order on President Trump’s immigration ban.

The United States faces a major problem with prescription drug prices. Even as the prices of most goods and services have barely budged in recent years, the cost of drugs has surged.

The health of rural America is failing, and a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without adequate replacement could prove disastrous.

There’s a joke among insurers that there are two things that health insurance companies hate to do – take risks and pay claims. But, of course, these are the essence of their business!

President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to “repeal and replace Obamacare.” A logical question is: With what?

A cancer diagnosis can be a serious financial hardship for many elderly and disabled patients on Medicare, with annual out-of-pocket costs ranging from $2,116 to $8,115, on top of what they pay for health insurance, a new survey shows.

Pundits have been discussing the merits (or not) of Fidel Castro’s legacy as his body lies in state.

Repealing Obamacare was central to both Donald Trump’s, and the Republican party’s, policy platforms. The President-elect has since softened his stance and there are several Republican proposals to replace Obamacare with a more viable alternative.

Candidate Trump repeatedly called for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act during the campaign, but it is unclear what President Trump will actually do about the ACA.

Trump's transition site says administration will 'modernize Medicare'—code for Ryan-style death by privatization

Amidst the partisan rancor and the unusual tilt toward questions on civility during the second and third presidential debates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump drew the attention of health experts when they articulated their path forward for health policy in America.

Clinical trials have been the gold standard of scientific testing ever since the Scottish naval surgeon Dr James Lind conducted the first while trying to conquer scurvy in 1747.

The two largest soda makers in the US use their sponsorships of health organizations to bolster their image, which helps them lobby against public health bills, a new study suggests.

New research finds racial disparities in emergency treatment for certain types of pain, specifically backaches and stomachaches.

It’s that time of year again. Insurance companies that participate in the Affordable Care Act’s state health exchanges are signaling that prices will risedramatically this fall.

It is a truism that aging of populations will result in large and potentially unmanageable increases in the number of older adults with dementia.

Despite the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of a 75 percent reduction in maternal deaths by 2015, the estimated maternal mortality rate for 48 US states and the District of Columbia actually increased by 26.6 percent from 2000 to 2014.

While commanding four vessels sailing between England and India in 1601, Captain James Lancaster performed one of the great experiments in medical history.

The rising price for EpiPens, a drug delivery system that is crucial for persons experiencing potentially life-threatening allergic reactions, has resulted in outrage.

Since the Affordable Care Act – or what many call Obamacare – has been labeled a failure since the day it started, according to some political types, it’s difficult to know if the recent defections by large insurance companies are really a death knell or just growing pains.

When a person goes to the doctor, there’s usually one thing they want: a diagnosis. Once a diagnosis is made, a path toward wellness can begin.

The U.S. coal industry is in rapid decline, a shift marked not only by the bankruptcy of many mine operators in coal-rich Appalachia but also by a legacy of potential environmental and social disasters.

The best argument for a single-payer health plan is the recent decision by giant health insurer Aetna to bail out next year from 11 of the 15 states where it sells Obamacare plans.

Women who need to see the urologist prefer female providers, but there aren’t enough of them to meet that need, a new study shows.

When considering Latinos, educators often struggle with how to close the achievement gap. That gap is often defined as a disparity in academic success between native English speakers and those for whom Spanish was their first language.